A discussion about a possible deployment of Western peacekeepers in Ukraine is potentially a very dangerous idea, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has warned, in response to comments made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday.
“If we are talking about some kind of serious negotiations, then this is a potentially extremely dangerous discussion. In world practice, such forces, as a rule, are used only with the consent of both parties. In this case, it is potentially a very dangerous topic,” Peskov told journalists.
His statement comes after Orban revealed that EU leaders are close to having a “legitimate” discussion on the subject of whether or not member states can or should send “some kind of peacekeeping force” to Ukraine, despite a probable rebuke from Russia over such a move.
The Hungarian leader warned that the Ukrainian conflict is only getting bloodier and more brutal, and questioned why EU leaders are not focused on trying to achieve peace in Ukraine through diplomatic means rather than the provision of more deadly tools to Kiev and the fueling of hostilities.
“If this continues, the danger of a world war is not a literary exaggeration,” the prime minister said.
Since Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine last year, Budapest has consistently opposed sanctions on Russian energy resources and has refused to send military aid to Kiev’s forces, citing the need to maintain and to equip Hungary’s own army.
Meanwhile, Russian MP Alexey Chepa has suggested that if the EU does decide to send a peacekeeping force to Ukraine, it would certainly be interpreted as a direct involvement in the conflict and an attempt to provoke a Russia-NATO war.
Chepa stated that in this case Russia could be forced to seek help from its Collective Security Treaty Organization partners, which include Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Comparing Beijing, Minsk’s ideas of peace settlement in Ukraine inappropriate — Kremlin
It will be inappropriate to compare the two sets of ideas for a peace settlement in Ukraine, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Friday.
"We believe it will be hardly appropriate to compare these two sets of ideas, I mean the plan that was voiced by [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] and the one that [Belarusian] President Alexander] Lukashenko has just mentioned," the Kremlin spokesman said.
He also noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had discussed with Xi the plan proposed by China and some of its individual provisions. At the same time, according to Peskov, a number of provisions of China's plan were unlikely to materialize right away, as Kiev was unable to disobey the West.
"The plan [peace plan proposed by China] has not been put on hold, but there are certain provisions that, so to say, cannot be implemented for now due to the inability of the Ukrainian side to disobey its patrons, its commanders," Peskov said. "These commanders, as we know, are not in Kiev. They insist that the war should continue," he added.
On March 20-22, Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Moscow. Among other things he discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin China’s plan for a peace settlement in Ukraine. The Russian leader said afterwards that many of the provisions of that plan were in line with Russia's own approaches and could be used as the basis for a peace settlement, when the West and Kiev were ready for it.
Earlier on Friday, Lukashenko, in his address to the people and parliament of Belarus, called for declaring truce in Ukraine "without the right to move and regroup troops on both sides and without the right to move weapons and ammunition, manpower and equipment." Lukashenko explained that in such a situation, "if the West once again tries to use the pause to deceitfully strengthen its positions, Russia will be obliged to use the entire strength of its military-industrial complex and the army to prevent an escalation of the conflict."
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