18:20 24.07.2020

Will be necessary to call in peacekeepers for withdrawal of Russian troops from ORDLO – Reznikov

2 min read
Will be necessary to call in peacekeepers for withdrawal of Russian troops from ORDLO – Reznikov

Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and First Deputy Head of Ukraine's Delegation in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Oleksiy Reznikov has said he believes that in order to withdraw Russian troops from certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO) of Ukraine, it will still be necessary to resort to a peacekeeping mission.

"The first thing is to adopt a political decision. However, even after that, they are unlikely to allow the National Guard of Ukraine and the police to enter the territory. Therefore, we will come to the institution of peacekeepers anyway. There is such a concept as 'preserving peace' and 'creating peace,'" he said.

"Creation is a forceful action, to which no one will agree, first of all the UN Security Council, because the mandate is very tough, complicated, risky and expensive. However, 'preserving peace' is a more likely story," he said in an interview with Focus magazine.

Reznikov said that in this case, the peacekeepers enter this territory and divide the sides to the conflict.

"I think not many people believe that this is possible, but theoretically it is. There is also a peacekeeping mandate from the OSCE, which has never been applied. Moreover, there is one interesting point: the decision in the OSCE should be in the consensus regime, no one has the right veto. However, if the conflict between the OSCE participating states, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, then their votes are not counted. Perhaps Sweden will take an active position, next year the country will preside. Russia may agree if it comes to the face-saving regime," he said.

Reznikov said that after the arrival of the peacekeepers, the extinguishing of the hot phase of the conflict begins, then a transitional period with the presence of international monitoring administrations or commissions that will be able to carry out even some elements of transitional justice.

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