"Putin spoke in detail on the Russian initiative to establish a UN mission to aid the protection of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM). Taking into account the views communicated by Angela Merkel, the Russian leader expressed readiness to add to the functions of the above-mentioned UN mission proposed in the Russian draft resolution of the Security Council," the statement said.
"The protection of OSCE observers by the UN is envisioned not only on the contact line after the disengagement of the forces and equipment of both sides, but also in other places where the OSCE SMM conducts its inspection visits in accordance with the Minsk Package of Measures," the Kremlin said.
The sides also touched upon the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements.
"It was underscored that any violation of the ceasefire regime, undermining the so-called ‘school truce,’ agreed in the Contact Group and supported by the leaders of the Normandy format states, would be unacceptable," it said.
Read alsoPoroshenko names conditions for deployment of UN peacekeepers in DonbasAs UNIAN reported earlier, Putin earlier said he considered the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Donbas "quite appropriate," but only along the line of contact and with the aim of protecting the OSCE mission.
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko said that the UN resolution draft presented by Russia on Donbas had nothing to do with peacekeeping.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on August 22 he planned to send a motion to the UN General Assembly the coming month, asking for deploying a peacekeeping mission throughout Donbas. He recalled that during a phone call of the Normandy Four leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France on July 24 he pointed out to the need to introduce a UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas with a UN Security Council mandate.
