Putting End to Ukraine Conflict Impossible Without Peacekeepers –
Russian Senator
CSTO military exercises
(c) RIA Novosti. Sergei Venyavskiy
18:35 29/08/2014
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MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) – The armed conflict in eastern
Ukraine can only be stopped by peacekeeping forces, but neither the
West nor Kiev are interested in doing so, a member of the Russian
Senate Committee on Defense and Security, Valery Shnyakin, told RIA
Novosti Friday.
“Peace in southeastern Ukraine is impossible without a peacekeeping
contingent entering; the units [fighting each other] must be
separated. This issue cannot be resolved by peaceful, diplomatic
means,” Shnyakin said.
The senator, however, stressed that Kiev authorities “Do not make
their own decisions,” while Washington and Brussels “Are not
interested in ending the military conflict…This is why bringing in the
peacekeepers [to Ukraine] is not yet possible,” the official
concluded.
Earlier on Friday, Nikolay Bordyuzha, the secretary general of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) a military alliance
that includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan, claimed the bloc’s peacekeeping forces are ready for any
kind of operation, including deployment to Ukraine. The Council of
Collective Security, which consists of CTSO member counties’
presidents, has the right to approve this kind of operation, Bordyuzha
added.
In mid-April, Kiev launched a special military operation against
pro-independence forces in eastern Ukraine. According to the latest UN
estimates, at least 2,220 were killed and almost 6,000 injured since
the fighting began in mid-April.