The EU is afraid that Russia will respond to the opening of a police mission in Donbass by recognizing the DPR and LPR
Moscow – Kyiv, March 27 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Shtamm) – Konstantin Bondarenko, head of the Institute of Ukrainian Politics, told NG that the situation prevents Ukraine from deploying European police to Donbas. "If the EU sends a police mission to Donbas against the will of the LPR and DPR, then Russia will recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed republics, after which, at their request, Russian peacekeepers could enter Donbas. This would mean escalating the conflict to a new level, a direct confrontation between Russia and the EU," the political scientist explained, noting that Europe is not prepared for such a scenario.
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Let us remind you that the Ukrainian side officially appealed to the UN and the EU with a request to send a peacekeeping mission. A contingent under the auspices of the UN cannot be introduced, since this decision requires approval by the UN Security Council, and the Russian side has declared its intention to block such a scenario.
Representatives of the LPR and DPR have stated many times that they are ready to accept only the Russian mission or the mission of the CIS countries. Ukraine is categorically against it, so in February the Ukrainian side found a way to invite peacekeepers, avoiding a deliberately disastrous vote in the UN Security Council. It was decided to invite the EU police mission - this issue is being resolved at the level of the EU Council. Ukraine's representative to the EU, Konstantin Eliseev, previously noted: “The EU, which, unlike Russia, is not a party to the Minsk process, has the political and moral right to act as its guarantor. An operation within the framework of the EU’s Joint Security and Defense Policy could ensure the permanence of the peace process, prevent escalation and provocations, and overcome the threat of expansion of the conflict zone.” Eliseev emphasized that the police mission would allow for the full implementation of the Minsk agreements: “The key task of the EU peacekeeping mission would be to create the appropriate environment for holding democratic and free local elections, which will determine the success of the peace process, in the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.”
In Russia they believe that the conflict, on the contrary, would only escalate.