Russia must leave Donbas before peacekeepers come - Klimkin

Russia must withdraw all weapons and mercenaries from the Donbas before the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force there, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said in an interview with Ukrinform. 

"We familiarized the UN Security Council and all partners with the logic of our position. It lies in the fact that Russia, with all weapons and mercenaries, must withdraw from the Donbas, an international contingent must enter there and, accordingly, a transitional period should begin, so that the Donbas a hundred percent returns to the Ukrainian legal field and not only. Of course, there can be no question of legitimizing the Russian protectorate and territorial limitations of the mandate of the mission. It should cover the entire occupied territory and the uncontrolled section of the Ukrainian-Russian border," he said.

Klimkin said that during an informal ministerial meeting in Tallinn on September 7-8 he talked with all his colleagues, including members of the Security Council. They agreed first to work out a clear joint position that will cover the issue of the mandate and possible time frames of at least preliminary discussion, and somehow to promote it in a dialogue with Russia.

He noted that a draft resolution had been prepared, but officially it will be submitted after a detailed discussion with all friends and partners. He recalled that the Russian draft had already been submitted, and if Ukraine, without enlisting the support of all, not only its friends, but also those who do not follow these questions in detail, will submit one more, someone may begin a discussion about their possible rapprochement, and "it will not play to our advantage."

According to Klimkin, it is also important to understand that the draft resolution does not yet determine the mandate of the peacekeeping mission - it is the starting point.

"The resolution should launch work on its preparation - it will contain a request to the UN Secretary-General to send a relevant mission that will decide on the spot on the parameters, conditions and many things of the future peacekeeping mission and will report to the Secretary-General, who will then submit this report with his proposals for consideration by the Security Council," Klimkin said.

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