The United States opposed the participation of Russians in the peacekeeping mission in the Donbass

Photo: Facebook / Kurt D Volker

The United States advocates that, should the UN peacekeeping mission be deployed in eastern Ukraine, it does not include representatives of Russia.

This was the US Special Representative to Ukraine Kurt Walker said in a comment to the publication The Washington Post.

According to him, Washington’s idea is to send a UN peacekeeping force to Donbass, which would not only have broad functions, but would also have greater security authority, in addition, the mission needs access to the entire length of the Ukrainian-Russian border.

“The contingent must have access to the Ukrainian-Russian border and not include any Russian personnel,” Volker said.

Moscow rejected the 26 of the 29 points of the proposal of the US Special Representative in Ukraine to resolve the situation in the Donbas. But he intends to continue to negotiate. He said that the peacekeeping plan he had drawn up in the Donbass was the best opportunity to return to the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which both Ukraine and Russia signed.

Washington’s strategy in Donbass is based on the assumption that Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking for ways to move away from his financial and military commitments in eastern Ukraine. If Putin’s long-term goal is to create a pro-Moscow Ukraine, then his constant intervention, according to Volcker, has the opposite effect.

But if Putin’s goal is to continue to destabilize the situation in Ukraine, not allowing the country to join the European institutions, then he needs to maintain control over the buffer zone in the Donbas. In this case, he will never agree to a peacekeeping mission on the terms of Ukraine or the West.

The diplomat stressed that he intends to continue negotiations on the Donbas with Russia and Ukraine. Among other things, they discuss the introduction of peacekeepers to the Donbass. On the Russian side, the main negotiator is the assistant to the President of Russia, Vladislav Surkov, and the negotiations will continue, despite the fact that at the moment the Kremlin has agreed only to 3 from the 29 points of the Volcker plan.

“We are trying to clarify our options. If they (Russia) want to stick to their positions, they can do so, but it will entail great costs for them. If they want to get out of the situation, this development could be something that we can agree on and where we can find ways to effectively achieve this goal,” the American diplomat noted.

Volker recalled that Kiev also has obligations under the Minsk agreements, including holding local elections in the east of Ukraine, granting the region a special status and an amnesty for the separatists. But this can happen only after Putin fulfills his part of the agreement, namely the withdrawal of troops and the cease-fire.

Read also on ForumDaily:

The special envoy of the State Department spoke about the role of the United States in resolving the conflict in the Donbas

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