Putin agreed with Merkel to UN peacekeepers' deployment "not only on the contact line" in Donbass

German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 11, during which they, in particular, discussed the possible deployment of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Donbass, DW reports.

According to Steffen Seibart, the representative of the Federal Government of Germany, during the conversation Merkel generally welcomed the initiative of Russia to deploy UN peacekeepers in the East of Ukraine, but noted that the format proposed by Moscow should be changed.

"President Putin reacted positively and agreed to abandon the limitation (zone of mandate - Ed.) of the planned UN mission only by areas on the line of contact", - Seibert said.

He also added that UN peacekeepers should protect the observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) throughout the territory of operation of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine, the message says.