Russia accuses US representative Volker of undermining Minsk agreements
The Russian Foreign Ministry believes that the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker is working on the “destruction” of the Minsk Agreements, stated the Russian Foreign Ministry after the U.S. diplomat representative criticized Russia’s proposal for the UN peacekeeping mission.
“Speaking in support of the Minsk agreements, Volker is actually working to destroy them. This is precisely the goal of his concept for the full occupation of the DPR and LPR territories by the so-called “UN peacekeepers”, the establishment of the international military-civil administration with a subsequent transfer of the Donbass control to the Kyiv authorities without giving the region a special status, “said the Russian Foreign Ministry.
On October 11, Volker criticized Russia’s proposed concept of the UN peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, according to which, the peacekeepers' task is solely the protection of the OSCE observers on the demarcation line.
Ukraine and its Western allies rejected such restrictions. They insist that peacekeeping forces should work throughout the territory of the Donbas, including the currently not controlled stretch of the Russian-Ukrainian border, and have a broad peacekeeping mandate.
In addition, Kyiv and the West reject any possible UN mission agreement with militants who do not support the Minsk agreements regarding the occupied part of the Donbas. The question of the UN forces deployment possibilities and conditions in the territory of the Donbas which is not under Ukraine’s control is still under discussion.