UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — Ukraine's request to the United Nations to deploy a peacekeeping operation in the country is not contrary to the Minsk Agreements, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said in his speech to the UN Security Council Monday.
"This initiative [requesting UN peacekeepers for eastern Ukraine] does not strike off the Minsk agreements. To the contrary, we view this operation as an indispensable instrument to ultimately help implement these agreements and bring peace back," he said.
Klimkin added that Ukraine expects that the member states of the United Nations and, in the first place, of the UN Security Council will support such request for assistance.
"In our view, this will be a 'crush test' for the United Nations' ability to maintain international peace and security," he stressed.
Russia's envoy to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said Kiev's request would cast doubt on the intention of Ukrainian government to adhere to the Minsk agreements that mentioned no such measure.
On Friday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told Klimkin in a phone conversation that the United Nations would stand guided by any decision the Security Council would make on the peacekeeping operation.
Minsk Agreements were adopted on February 12 in Belarus capital.
The set of measures agreed by the leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine comprised of 13 points. It included a ceasefire from February 15, the withdrawal of heavy artillery from the line of contact, an all-for-all prisoner exchange and a constitutional reform in Ukraine with a focus on decentralization of power.
