Herashchenko: Ukraine is conducting international negotiations on peacekeeping mission in the Donbas
Ukraine intends to bring its position in line with partnering countries before submitting a resolution on promoting the peacekeeping mission in the Donbas, and is currently negotiating on this topic, according to the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, Iryna Herashchenko.
"The issue is not the submission date for the resolution. It could have been submitted three years ago. The question is that the UN Security Council makes their decisions by consensus. It is absolutely clear today that there is one country that is blocking everything aimed at stabilizing the situation in the Donbas and in the Crimea. It is the Russian Federation, an aggressor country. It has partners among the UN Security Council member countries who can withhold their votes. Even one vote can make it impossible for the peacekeepers to enter. That’s why it is not important when the resolution is submitted, but the votes in favor of this resolution. Therefore we need to bring our views on this situation as close to our partners as possible," Iryna Herashchenko told TSN.Tyzhden on Sunday.
She recalled that at the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko had a number of bilateral meetings, in particular, with US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the Presidents of Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, and Slovakia, as well as several EU leaders. He also has constant telephone calls with world leaders, in particular, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose party got good results in the Bundestag elections. And during all these consultations, the key issue is the resolving the conflict in the Donbas and peacekeeping missions," the politician noted.
"Nowadays, the discussion goes on as to who can submit such a resolution. Should it be Ukraine, or should it be our partners, that is, whether it should be a joint resolution. It is necessary to bring our positions together so that our partners can also let Russia know that this resolution is the one that must be supported and it demands serious work. That is why the resolution's submission date and its authorship depends on this behind-the-scenes diplomatic work," Iryna Herashchenko said.
At the same time, she underlined that "there was not a single case when peacekeepers entered a territory where peace had not yet been established. Therefore, the key issue is the establishment of permanent peace in the Donbas. None of the world’s countries will ever send its peacekeepers if an active conflict is present," Herashchenko said.
"Therefore, we are working in two directions. The first is the Normandy Format and the Minsk process, which deals with putting pressure on the Russian Federation and their obligation to carry out the first security measures of the Minsk agreements. And the second is, of course, the issue of a peacekeepers’ mission," Herashchenko informed.