A mandate from the UN Security Council is needed to deploy a peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine, otherwise such troops will become a legitimate target for Russia, said Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's permanent representative to the UN, in an interview with RIA Novosti.
„Given the general fatigue from the Ukrainian crisis, various rumors, including strange ones, are really starting to circulate. It is necessary to clearly understand: no „peacekeepers“ can act without a mandate from the UN Security Council. Otherwise, all foreign military contingents sent to the combat zone will be, from the point of view of international law, ordinary combatants and a legitimate military target for our armed forces,“ said Nebenzya.
Earlier, the Foreign Intelligence Service reported that the West would deploy a so-called peacekeeping contingent of about 100,000 people to the country to restore Ukraine's combat readiness. The service believes that this would constitute a de facto occupation of Ukraine. President Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov pointed out that the deployment of peacekeepers is possible only with the consent of the parties to a specific conflict. According to him, it is premature to talk about peacekeepers in Ukraine.
At the same time, President Vladimir Putin, during a meeting with the permanent members of the Russian Security Council in January, stated that the goal of resolving the conflict in Ukraine should not be a short-term ceasefire and a break for regrouping forces and rearming with the aim of subsequently continuing the conflict, but long-term peace.