The United States has suggested Ukraine not to make a competing resolution on the UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas in response to the Russian initiative, and try to reach an agreement, U.S. State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker has said.
Ukraine introduced the idea of deploying a UN peacekeeping mission in the east of Ukraine several years ago. Then Russia was not ready to look into it. When Russia presented its idea in September, Ukraine was ready to bring its own proposal … We discussed this with Ukraine and said: “Let’s not put forward a competing resolution, let’s try to start a discussion on the principles, what an effective peacekeeping mission should do. And see if we can reach an agreement,” the U.S. diplomat said at a briefing in Washington on Friday.
According to him, at the moment discussions are held about the principles and elements of the UN mission, the State Department said.
We are discussing the principles and elements that should be in the future resolution of the UN Security Council, and if we can agree – this will be the best option for moving forward, Volker said.
According to him, the United States, in addition to Russia and Ukraine, conducts diplomatic discussions and coordination with France and Germany, as partners in the Normandy format, as well as Britain and Sweden, which are members of the UN Security Council at the moment.
According to Volker, for a peacekeeping mission to be effective, it is necessary to control the entire territory of Donbas, monitor the movement of heavy weapons and control the area of the Russian-Ukrainian border.
We are trying to see if it is possible to create conditions for the deployment of the UN peacekeeping forces to control the territories in the east of Ukraine, which would restore confidence between the parties, at least to the international forces of the UN. This would create an opportunity for Ukraine to advance forward in the implementation of the Minsk agreements, in particular, in the conduct of elections, which cannot be conducted at the moment, Volker said.
The special representative also said that on November 13 his third meeting with presidential aide Vladislav Surkov will take place.
I had two meetings with my counterpart Vladislav Surkov, he said. Let’s see if we can make progress. And I will have a third meeting with him in Belgrade on November 13, the U.S. diplomat added.
