Russia and the separatists balk at Kiev’s request for international peacekeepers

Russia and the breakaway People’s Republic of Donetsk (DNR) say Kiev’s new request for international peacekeepers is a violation of the agreement signed in Minsk on February 12. According to the Ukrainians’ new plan, peacekeepers would take up positions along the DMZ that divides its troops from the separatists, and—more importantly—along the border with Russia.

Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, says the Minsk agreement provides for the creation of local police units in the separatist enclaves of Donetsk and Lugansk, and charges the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe—not the UN or EU—with monitoring the ceasefire.

Denis Pushilin, a spokesperson for the DNR, said the Minsk agreement only restores Kiev’s control of the border with Russia after Ukraine enacts constitutional reforms granting the rebel areas expanded autonomy. The peace plan also calls for separatists to hold new local elections, before handing back the Russian border checkpoints. Any transfer of control over the border, Pushilin says, requires additional consultations with the rebels in Donetsk and Lugansk.

Edward Basurin, another DNR spokesperson, pointed out that the separatists early in the conflict already appealed to Russia and other members of the UN Security Council for peacekeepers. “Our request then was denied. If [Kiev] wants to invite them now, we’re not against it. Let them come,” Basurin said, explaining that he welcomes peacekeepers along the DMZ with Ukrainian troops, but not along the border with Russia.

“We need to be drawing down the area’s militarization, not introducing new initiatives. And when, instead of doing was was agreed, they start hatching various schemes, it only raises suspicions that they want to destroy the Minsk agreement,” Churkin said.

On February 19, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council approved an appeal to the United Nations and European Union requesting the deployment of international peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine. The Council’s secretary, Alexander Turchinov, said Ukraine’s preferred option would be peacekeepers from the European Union.

The Minsk agreement, brokered by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France, does not provide for peacekeepers in eastern Ukraine.

In June 2014, separatists asked Moscow to send peacekeepers to the area, and also suggested a contingent of UN peacekeepers, with Russian troops playing a leading role.