OSCE advocating joint UN peacekeeping in Donbas, Klimkin says

17 January 2019

The OSCE recently proposed creating a joint peacekeeping mission with the UN in Donbas at the Minsk Trilateral Contact Group, Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Jan. 16. “This mission is supposed to have a military component, a police component and an international administration,” he said during a visit to Severodonetsk, a city on the frontlines, as reported by the pravda.com.ua news site. Next month in Moscow, OSCE Chairperson Miroslav Lajcak will demand a discussion on creating a “real mission,” Klimkin said.

 

Zenon Zawada: Every half year or so, an attempt is made to resurrect the possibility of a UN peacekeeping mission. There won’t be any peacekeeping mission in Donbas in the next two years, at least. Not only are the two sides incapable of reaching an agreement on what the mission should look like, but Russia thinks it has the advantage in the conflict, a view that we largely agree with. Introducing international peacekeepers would work to reduce Russia’s advantage.