Oleksiy Reznikov, Minister for Non-Kiev-Controlled Territories and Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, said that the leaders of the Normandy Four countries should return to discussing the issue of introducing an international peacekeeping contingent into Donbass.

Reznikov recalled that at one time this issue was discussed at the level of the UN Security Council and was not removed from the agenda.

“There was a discussion about the nature of this mission, where exactly the peacekeepers will be present: throughout the territory of Donbass, on the demarcation line, on the border with Russia.

There was a dispute between two positions, and somewhere in between, theoretically, they could converge, but they postponed it, "Reznikov said.

The Ukrainian minister added that the OSCE special monitoring mission, working in the conflict zone in Donbass, cannot cope with the volume of tasks assigned to it due to the lack of "capacity" that the representatives of the UN peacekeeping mission have.

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin, French leader Emmanuel Macron, German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after a Normandy format meeting at the Elysee Palace in December 2019

  • RIA News

  • © Alexey Nikolsky

An RT source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said that the issue of bringing peacekeepers to Donbas is indeed being considered.

“It looks like it will be impossible to implement the Minsk agreements in their current form, to achieve a complete ceasefire is not possible, therefore peacekeepers are our plan“ B ”.

Now this issue is being discussed, "- said the interlocutor of RT.

Against the background of Reznikov's statement, Vitold Fokin, the first deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the contact group on resolving the situation in eastern Ukraine, proposed using the mandate of the UN Security Council to create an international interim government in Donbass.

"Before holding elections, you need to ensure security ... As one of the ways I proposed using the mandate of the UN Security Council and creating an interim government in those territories," Fokin said, adding that this was his purely personal opinion.

Now Ukraine, using the support of Western countries, wants to win back its military defeat by diplomatic methods, says Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries.

“All of Kiev's initiatives are aimed at ensuring that the West ultimately pushes such an absurd proposal to the UN.

However, this is impossible, because the UN Security Council will not be able to implement such an initiative without the consent of Russia and China, ”the political scientist noted in a commentary on RT.

Peacekeeping Chronicles

We will remind, in 2017, the Ukrainian authorities under the leadership of Petro Poroshenko began to actively promote the issue of the introduction of UN forces in Donbass.

However, the Kremlin's proposal to place a UN mission on the line of contact between the warring parties provoked protests from Kiev.

In September 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a proposal that UN peacekeepers should ensure the safety of the OSCE mission staff on the line of contact between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the forces of the self-proclaimed republics.

The Russian leader stressed that this can only happen with the consent of the DPR and LPR and after the withdrawal of forces and weapons by the parties, provided for by the Minsk agreements.

  • Former US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volcker

  • Reuters

  • © Loren Elliott

Subsequently, in a conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin agreed that the UN security mission should accompany OSCE personnel throughout Donbass as part of monitoring.

The Russian side agreed to add this proposal to its draft UN Security Council resolution.

However, such a compromise option also did not suit Kiev and Poroshenko.

The Ukrainian side demanded to deploy a peacekeeping contingent throughout the territory of Donbass, including the area bordering with Russia, which is under the control of the unrecognized republics.

Ukraine began preparing its own draft resolution for sending to the UN Security Council, but these efforts were blocked by Washington.

At that time, Kurt Volcker, who held the post of US special envoy for Ukraine, called on Kiev not to send its draft resolution to the UN.

Instead, the American diplomat suggested that the Ukrainian authorities begin a discussion within the framework of the document presented by the Russian side.

Washington also advocated the deployment of peacekeepers throughout Donbass, including the border with Russia, and the empowerment of UN forces.

At the same time, the United States was against the participation of Russian representatives in the mission.

The issue of the presence of UN peacekeepers in Ukraine became the subject of a series of meetings between Russia and the United States at the level of special envoys between Kurt Volcker and Vladislav Surkov.

However, they gave no result.

International offers

The participants of the Normandy format, in particular, Germany, also made their proposals on the introduction of UN peacekeepers into Donbass.

For example, in 2018, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, during a visit to Ukraine, said that the mission's mandate should not be limited to the protection of OSCE observers.

Then he voiced a position similar to the American one - peacekeepers must occupy the entire conflict zone, and the mission must be armed and have broad powers.

At the same time, Gabriel noted that one of the conditions should be a prolonged truce and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line in Donbass.

At the same time, Belarus expressed its readiness to participate in the peacekeeping mission in Donbass.

In February 2018, Belarusian Defense Minister Andrei Ravkov said that with the consent of the UN Security Council and Ukraine, the country's troops are ready to perform the functions of peacekeepers in the conflict zone.

However, in Kiev, this proposal was rejected due to the membership of Belarus in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), in which it is a member together with Russia.

This reason was then voiced by the deputy head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Elena Zerkal.

In the spring of 2018, Deputy Minister for the Uncontrolled Territories Yuri Grymchak said that the United States and France were allegedly ready to finance a possible peacekeeping mission, and Germany was ready to consider such an opportunity.

At the same time, there was no official confirmation of this statement from the authorities of these countries.

Search for volunteers

The question of introducing a UN mission to Donbass was also raised by the administration of Volodymyr Zelensky after his election as president in the spring of 2019.

At the same time, representatives of the new Kiev authorities changed their rhetoric and began to declare that the introduction of an international peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine is an alternative to the Minsk agreements, and not one of the possible means of their implementation.

So, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasily Bodnar said this during his visit to Canada in November 2019.

He said that Ukraine will ask Canada to participate in the peacekeeping operation if the implementation of the Minsk agreements "does not give results."

  • Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the contact line in Donbass

  • Reuters

  • © Gleb Garanich

In December 2019, a similar position was voiced by the new head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Vadym Prystaiko.

"Our team is trying to do everything that is within the framework of Minsk, and when we understand that nothing new can be said about anything new within the framework of Minsk, and Russia rests on every point, then we will turn to the next step," he said he is on the air of the program “Freedom of speech by Savik Shuster”.

Prystaiko noted that the next step is to introduce a peacekeeping mission and that the team of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has some "plans" on this issue.

An RT source in the Batkivshchyna party noted that Alexei Reznikov's new statement on this topic can be regarded as pressure on Russia before the proposed meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Four.

“If the Russian side does not make concessions, then Ukrainian diplomats will shout to the whole world about Russia's non-compliance with the Minsk agreements, and then they themselves will not have to fulfill them.

It seems that the current officials have decided to "step on the rake" of their predecessors.

It is clear that the UN will not send peacekeepers to the region where the war is going on.

Therefore, this idea is futile.

But, apparently, Zelensky needs to show at least some achievements in this matter before the local elections, ”said the representative of Batkivshchyna.

In turn, a RT source in the Servant of the People party says that Zelensky's office has already realized that they will not be able to fully implement the Minsk agreements.

According to the interlocutor of RT, this will immediately entail active opposition from Ukrainian nationalists and the political forces supporting them.

“The opposition will immediately bring people out into the streets, and autumn is the best time to organize a“ Maidan ”.

Therefore, the best thing Zelensky can do now is to play for time.

However, the leaders of the Normandy Four do not need this, they are interested in a concrete result.

Therefore, the next meeting may be the last under President Zelensky, "the representative of the Servant of the People emphasized.

Political scientist and economist Oleksandr Dudchak noted that by positioning the UN mission as a kind of plan "B", the Ukrainian side is trying to launch the conflict settlement process along a completely new path, not related to those points that were set forth in the documents of the Minsk agreements signed by the parties.

“This is an attempt to once again create a precedent that would derail the Minsk agreements.

Because Kiev will not agree to the presence of peacekeepers exclusively on the demarcation line, and Donbass will not agree to the presence of UN units on its territory, especially on the border with the Russian Federation, ”the political scientist noted.

New statements from Kiev that the issue of the peacekeeping mission in Donbass remains on the agenda speaks of the internal choice made by the Zelensky administration not to follow the path of real implementation of the Minsk agreements, Vladimir Zharikhin said in a conversation with RT.

“The Ukrainian side has already played out all possible options for sabotaging the Minsk agreements, so it returned to this unacceptable option for the introduction of international police forces in the territory of Donbass.

Ukraine is now portraying activity, pretending that it is going to fulfill the agreements, although in reality it is not so, ”the expert concluded.