OSCE proposes creating joint peacekeeping mission with UN in Donbas

The OSCE representatives in the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk proposed creating a joint peacekeeping mission with the UN in Donbas, which would have military and police components and an international administration.

 “Even the OSCE representatives, who work, including on the Minsk platform, put forward a proposal to create a joint [peacekeeping] mission of the UN and the OSCE. This joint mission should have a military component, a police component and an international administration," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told journalists in the city of Severodonetsk in Luhansk region, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

According to him, the deployment of a real peacekeeping mission in Donbas will be one of top-priority talking points of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Miroslav Lajčák during his visit to Moscow next month.

“He understands perfectly well that certain practical steps can be taken, but solutions can be achieved only through an effective mission,” Klimkin said.

He added that Ukraine was ready to discuss the options in the context of deployment of a peacekeeping mission in Donbas.

“Russia will not succeed in legitimizing the occupation and using the occupied Donbas as an impetus to a Russian model of federalization of Ukraine. The other issues may be discussed,” the Ukrainian minister noted.