Russian Foreign Ministry: Russia sees no point in deploying UN peacekeeping mission in Donbass

Russia believes that the OSCE monitoring mission is successfully monitoring the implementation of the Minsk Accords, and so, there is no point in deploying an additional UN peacekeeping mission in Donbass, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said at a news conference in Moscow on Thursday.

"As far as we are concerned, we see no sense in UN peacekeeping in Ukraine. The OSCE monitoring mission is successfully performing its functions, so we see no need for an additional peacekeeping mission," Gatilov said.

He noted that Ukraine’s appeal to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon provided no specific details on how this initiative could be carried out. "The appeal mentioned neither the modality, nor the purpose or ethnic composition of these forces. This is a very serious issue requiring careful consideration and consent of both conflicting parties," Gatilov said.

He noted that in his reply to Ukraine’s appeal, the UN Secretary-General said that the decision on a peacekeeping mission could be taken by the UN Security Council only.

Some of the countries hoping to bypass our possible veto refer to the Uniting for Peace resolution, a document passed in 1950 to support UN forces’ involvement in the Korean conflict. "Many people still question the legitimacy of this resolution and, as far as I remember, no one has referred to it so far," Gatilov added.

“We have repeatedly stressed the need to implement the UN resolution on the crash of Malaysian Boeing. But the Netherlands is delaying the investigation, with the findings to be presented in June. We also keep insisting on international control over the inquiries into the crimes at Maidan, in Odessa and Mariupol. We believe that the UN should exert more active pressure on Ukraine concerning these investigations,” Gatilov said.