Russia becomes "more open" over UN peacekeeping troops in Donbas: media

Source
Xinhuanet
Editor
Li Jiayao
Time
2018-01-30 08:17:15

KIEV, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Russia became "more open" over the issue of deploying UN peacekeeping troops in Ukraine's eastern region of Donbas, the Ukrainian state-run Ukrinform news agency said on Monday, citing a U.S. envoy.

According to the agency, Kurt Volker, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, said that Russia no longer rules out deploying the UN forces across the whole area controlled by the pro-independence rebels in eastern Ukraine.

"We would like to see a broader mandate for the peacekeeping forces rather than just the protection of observers, including the access to the whole territory of the conflict, including the areas adjacent to the international border," Volker was quoted as saying following his talks with Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov.

On Jan. 26, Volker and Surkov held a closed-door meeting in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

The armed confrontation between government troops and pro-independence insurgents in Donbas region has been underway since April 2014, claiming about 10,000 lives.

On Sept. 5, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow will ask the UN Security Council to send peacekeepers to patrol the contact line in eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Kiev said it would agree to the deployment of a UN patrol only if the troops would be stationed across the whole area controlled by the rebels, including the Ukrainian-Russian border.

 

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