Polish Foreign Ministry: UN peacekeepers in Donbas need to be deployed on the border with Russia
The deployment of UN peacekeeping forces in the Donbas is possible only with the consent of and close cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities, as stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, reports Onet.pl.
"The appropriate place for the presentation and preparation of such initiatives is the UN Security Council, and we expect concrete proposals at the Council meeting ... A necessary condition for the success of such a mission would be the preparation of a mandate [of the UN mission] in cooperation and with the consent of the Ukrainian side," announced the Polish Foreign Ministry.
It also reported that the deployment of peacekeeping forces on the Ukrainian-Russian border is desirable for the security and stability of the region.
"However, we cannot agree with the situation when the presence of these forces violates the generally accepted norms of international law, in particular those relating to the territorial integrity and inviolability of borders," the Polish foreign ministry stressed.
The report says that, considering the statement of Russian President Putin on UN peacekeepers in the Donbas, it is difficult to step back from those two issues. "First of all, we are talking about military actions of militants trained and financed by Russia, and their actions are directed against the OSCE observation mission. Secondly, we are talking about the lack of transparency and offensive character of the ‘Zapad-2017’ exercises," stressed the Polish foreign policy department.
Warsaw stressed that Poland supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and does not agree to violate the international order or ignore international legal norms.
On Tuesday, September 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to the idea of introducing UN peacekeepers to the Donbas, but said that these forces should be located only on the line of demarcation, and that it should be coordinated with the leaders of the LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic) and DPR (Donetsk People’s Repubcli). Putin also said that he instructed the Russian Foreign Ministry to introduce a draft resolution on peacekeepers in the Donbas for consideration by the UN Security Council.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, after this statement, stressed that Russia is distorting the idea of deploying a mission. Ukrainian diplomats say that the military or other personnel of the aggressor country can not be present in the Donbas under the guise of peacekeepers, and there can be no talk about "obtaining consent to carry out a peacekeeping operation from illegal armed formations that operate on the territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk independent territories with the support of, financing, and material and technical support from Russia. "