Lavrov rejects European peacekeepers for Ukraine

Credit: dpa/NAN

Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected both proposals to freeze the front line in Ukraine in its current position and stationing European peacekeeping troops in the region. The Minister said this on Wednesday.

Earlier this week U.S President Donald Trump told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept European troops in Ukraine to keep the peace.

Lavrov said Russia opposed the idea put forth that there is a line dividing both sides, with one part Russian and the other Ukrainian.

“That will not happen,” he said, during a trip to Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar.

Lavrov said the Russian constitution defines the country’s territory, Lavrov said and according to that, the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson belong to Russia, even if Russian troops do not fully control them.

In the rest of Ukraine, “racist laws” would have to be repealed, he said, referring to the alleged discrimination against Russian speakers, which include the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The foreign minister also rejected the ideas from France and other countries to possibly deploy peacekeeping troops from Europe to Ukraine. This aims to “further fuel the conflict and undermine all attempts to calm it down.”

Earlier, on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, who was in Washington for talks, said Putin would agree to European peacekeeping forces to secure a possible ceasefire in Ukraine.

Asked, “Will you convince Vladimir Putin to accept European troops as peacekeepers?” Trump responded, “Yeah, he will accept.”

Lavrov did report in Doha on further steps towards rapprochement with the United States and Trump.

Diplomats from both sides will meet on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss how the work of the embassies in Moscow and Washington could be normalised.

Due to the expulsion of diplomats, the U.S. and Russian representations in each other’s country can only work to a limited extent.