Peacekeepers in Ukraine must be sanctioned by UN SC - Duma deputy
MOSCOW. March 2 (Interfax) - Peacekeepers cannot be introduced in eastern Ukraine without a resolution by the United Nations Security Council, says Leonid Slutsky, who chairs Russian State Duma's Committee for CIS Affairs, European Integration and Compatriots.
"There are serious fears that an introduction of blue helmets could become a cover-up for disruption of the peace process, and, in this confluence of events, provoke lawful supplies of Western heavy weapons, which risks turning the situation into an armed standoff far beyond Ukraine. At any rate, a mandate to introduce a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine must be sanctioned by the UN Security Council, of which the Russian Federation is a permanent member," Slutsky told journalists on Monday, commenting on the relevant decree by Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko.
The question of peacekeepers should first and foremost be agreed on with the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR, respectively), the Russian parliamentarian said.
"Without their consent and approval, any talk will be pointless: this will only throw more firewood into the internal Ukrainian conflict," he said.
In addition, there are serious differences between sides over nationalities of the peacekeeping contingent, Slutsky said.
"Apart from everything else, as was repeatedly underlined, the question of deploying peacekeepers in the LPR and DPR is outside the Minsk agreements reached by the French, German, Russian and Ukrainian leaders, the committee chairman said.
The decree signed by Poroshenko enforces the National Security and Defense Council's decision to ask the UN and the EU to deploy an international operation to maintain peace and security in Ukraine.
