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The USA is expected to offer the Russian Federation a plan to deploy 20 thousand peacekeepers in Donbass - the WSJ

11/10/2017 01:00:51 pm
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The USA is expected to offer Russia a plan to deploy 20 thousand UN peacekeepers throughout the territory of conflict in Ukraine in coming days. The Wall Street Journal writes about this with reference to diplomatic sources in the USA and other Western countries, - Yevropeyska Pravda reports.

"The U.S. officials are preparing to test Moscow's willingness to end the conflict in Ukraine by seeking Russia's approval for 20 000 peacekeepers throughout the territory of the conflict", - the newspaper reports.

According to the sources, the USA is expected to raise the proposal with Russia in coming days. It is driven by hopes in some Western capitals, including Paris and Berlin, that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is seeking a way out of Moscow's military support to Ukrainian separatists".

It is reported that the offer is also part of the larger strategy of the Trump Administration on Russia, which includes diplomatic efforts to force Moscow to return to arms control agreements, such as the Treaty to eliminate intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles, in violation of which Washington blamed Russia.

The newspaper notes that Western capitals are still skeptical that Russia will fulfill its obligations under the Minsk agreements, which oblige it to withdraw all troops and weapons from Ukraine and allow Kyiv to regain control.

The Wall Street Journal reports that at the moment, the White House did not respond to the request for comment.

As previously reported, Special Representative of the U.S. State Department for Ukraine Kurt Volker stated that Russia must withdraw its forces from the Donbass, so that the UN peacekeepers would enter this territory.

Furthermore, the U.S. Special Representative noted that deployment of the peacekeeping mission in the Donbass should not be coordinated with the "L/DNR" militants.

Subsequently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, having called the UN peacekeepers "occupying forces", stated that the offer of the U.S. Special Representative Kurt Volker on the UN mission contradicts the efforts, taken in the Normandy format.