10:04 10.05.2018

Volker expects progress from Russia as to UN peacekeepers mandate in Donbas after Putin's inauguration

3 min read
Volker expects progress from Russia as to UN peacekeepers mandate in Donbas after Putin's inauguration

Special Representative of the U.S. State Department for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker expects progress on the part of Russia in the issue of the UN peacekeeping mission in the east of Ukraine after the inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In an interview with Voice of America, answering the question why Moscow had not yet responded to a proposal regarding the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in eastern Ukraine, Volker noted that the absence of an answer was not a surprise for the United States. We knew that it would take them [the Russian side] time, because ahead of all there was the re-election of President Putin, and then inauguration. At the same time, I want to note that this is still a hot spot. People are still being killed, and humanitarian problems continue unabated. The time has come. We are waiting for a response from the Russian authorities and we hope for some progress, he said.

He expressed confidence that there is a real chance to end the war in Donbas, if President Putin wants.

I think that it rests with Russia to decide. There is no internal conflict. There are no grounds for a civil war, no reasons for military operations, except for the presence of Russian troops. If we agree on a resolution, especially regarding the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission, which will provide security zones, we will really get an opportunity to put an end to the conflict. There is such a possibility, but it requires Russia's desire to act in this way, Volker stressed.

As for the publication of the Bellingcat investigation team about the involvement of the Russian military in the bombardment of Mariupol in 2015, the U.S. special envoy noted that this is part of a broader picture that they have been looking at for a long time.

Armed units in the east of Ukraine, controlled by Russia, almost daily violate the ceasefire regime, which may concern both Mariupol and other places. Russian personnel officers were deployed to the armed forces in the east, so I would not say that this could become a surprise for us, he said.

As reported, inauguration ceremony of re-elected in March this year Russian President Vladimir Putin was held in Moscow on May 7, 2018.

On the same day SBU Chief Vasyl Hrytsak said that investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had established the involvement of regular servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces in a rocket attack on the Skhidny residential district of Mariupol on January 24, 2015, which killed 31 people and injured 117 more.

He said that the SBU would transfer to the International Court of Justice part of the materials on the events in Mariupol in 2015, in particular, intercepted negotiations.

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