DONETSK (Sputnik) — The deployment of UN peacekeepers in Donbass can be regarded as a measure to prevent provocations by Ukrainian security forces, the acting foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Natalya Nikonorova, told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"If the conditions and the possible places of presence in the territory of Donbass are coordinated with us, the deployment of UN troops as a protective force accompanying OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] inspectors can be considered an additional measure for preventing provocations and [for preventing] the Ukrainian armed forces' and volunteer battalions' sabotage of the implementation of the Minsk agreements," Nikonorova said.
"The OSCE SMM [Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine] representatives are really going to need extra protection when inspecting weapons storage sites after the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops. At the moment, the situation with illegal paramilitary formations on Ukrainian territory is becoming more dangerous, the forces of radical battalions, in fact, do not obey the Ukrainian army and, therefore, pose a serious threat to members of the monitoring mission," Nikonorova stressed.
The statement comes following a statement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, saying that he supports the idea of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine in order to ensure the security of the OSCE observer mission in Donbass. His Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, expressed readiness to discuss the deployment of such a mission in the region, albeit without Russia's participation, with the UN Security Council. He also stressed that Kiev would not coordinate the parameters for UN peacekeepers' work in Donbass with local militias. Kiev and Moscow prepared separate draft resolutions for the UN Security Council on peacekeepers in the Donbass region.
