Putin claims to support armed UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas

Russian President Vladimir Putin told a Dec. 14 press
conference that he’s not against UN peacekeepers being positioned throughout
Donbas, under international control, but this must be agreed upon directly with
the leaders of the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. He said
that he agreed with Ukrainian President Poroshenko that such a mission should
be armed but the OSCE was opposed. “Similar conflicts of this type in the world
weren’t resolved through intermediaries,” he said. “They were resolved
everywhere in direct contact between the sides of the conflict. The Kyiv
government today, unfortunately, is avoiding these direct contacts.”

Putin also accused the Ukrainian government of not
having the desire to fulfill the Minsk Accords nor the agreement on the special
status of Donbas, which has already been approved by Ukraine’s parliament “but
not implemented under various pretexts.” He also stressed that “there’s no
Russian army on the territory of Donbas.”

Zenon Zawada: Putin didn’t
say anything new regarding his position in Donbas, which remains cynical in
insisting that Russia has no military presence in the territory, that the
separatist leaders are in control and they are the ones who need to be negotiated
with. This indicates that he still remains confident in fulfilling his
geopolitical goal in the region, which is to maintain control over Donbas and
use this influence to undermine Ukraine’s efforts towards Euro-Atlantic
integration.

Although Putin is claiming to support UN
peacekeepers, which is a position that appeals to the public, we are confident
he will work to disrupt this plan since their presence would undermine Russian
control over the territory. Whenever he has made one concession in this regard,
he has raised another demand that is unrealistic, such as negotiating directly
with the separatist leaders.