Separatist DPR puts forward its conditions for peacekeepers in Donbas
The proposal of Russian President Vladimir Putin to deploy peacekeepers to the Donbas should be discussed, stated the head of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko.
According to Zakharchenko, the residents of the Donbas "like no one else are interested in the beginning of the process of settlement of our conflict with Kyiv." He also says that the DPR is ready to consider any initiatives while also putting forward their own.
The head of the DPR asserted that the issue of UN peacekeepers can only be considered after "the Ukrainian side has fulfilled a part of the Minsk agreements." He claims that Ukraine does not respect the ceasefire.
"Only after that could we talk in detail about peacekeepers as security guards for the OSCE observers. Otherwise, if the armament of the Ukrainian side remains on the line of demarcation and Kyiv behaves as it did today, peacekeepers can become an object of Ukrainian provocation," he said.
The DPR leader’s current position is a complete turn around from its most recent policy. Last April, in a commentary to Russi’a Interfax news agency, Zakharchenko said that the emergence of peacekeeping and police missions in the Donbas could lead to an escalation of the conflict.
"Our position is unchanged. We are categorically against peacekeeping or international police missions in our conflict. The presence of any armed ‘third force’ in the zone of our conflict with Kyiv will promote not the end but the escalation of tensions. And it does not matter whether it's a police mission or UN peacekeepers," he said then.
More recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the deployment of peacekeepers to the Donbas quite appropriate. Commenting on this news, the MP Volodymyr Ariev from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party said that this is Putin’s way of trying to implement the "Transnistrian scenario" with the involvement of Russian troops.