Moscow Will Not Vote on UN Peacekeepers to Ukraine at UNSC – Lavrov

© Flickr / United Nations Photo Helmet and Flack Jackets of UN Peacekeepers
Helmet and Flack Jackets of UN Peacekeepers - Sputnik International
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia will not even vote in the UN Security Council on the deployment of UN peacekeepers to Ukraine.

Members of Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) to Ukraine walk along a convoy of Ukrainian armed forces in Paraskoviyvka, eastern Ukraine, February 26, 2015 - Sputnik International
OSCE Skeptical About Efficiency of UN Peacekeeping Mission in Ukraine
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow will abstain from voting in the UN Security Council on the deployment of UN peacekeepers to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) approved Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's proposal to appeal to the UN Security Council and the Council of the European Union for an international operation to maintain peace and security in Ukraine, where Kiev launched a military operation against independence supporters in April, 2014.

"We will not even vote," Lavrov said on Saturday, in an interview broadcast on Russia's Rossiya-1 television channel.

Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on Tuesday passed a bill abolishing the country's non-aligned status. - Sputnik International
Poroshenko Submits Int'l Peacekeeping Project to Ukrainian Parliament
Poroshenko first announced the idea of deploying UN- or EU-mandated peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine in February. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon responded that it was up to the UN Security Council to decide on the deployment of UN peacekeepers in the country.

Meanwhile the Minsk peace deal, signed on February 12 after talks between the leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine, stipulates that the situation in southeastern Ukraine is monitored by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

OSCE observers from the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) who have been deployed in Ukraine since March, 2014, at the request of the Kiev government, have been overseeing the implementation of the Minsk truce, particularly adherence to the ceasefire, in force since February 15, and the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the line of contact between Kiev forces and independence fighters.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meets with counterpart from Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia Vyacheslav Chirikba in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 11, 2015 - Sputnik International
Russia to Never Allow Revision of Minsk Agreements on Ukraine - Lavrov
The 57-nation OSCE Council recently agreed unanimously to extend and provide funding and other resources for the SMM for an additional twelve months.

On Tuesday, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier told journalists that it was not clear whether a UN peacekeeping operation in Ukraine would be more successful than the present mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

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