Russia's proposals for peacekeepers in Donbas should be treated with caution - Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, UK

“Russia's proposals for sending peacekeepers to Donbas, under the auspices of the UN should be treated with caution,” said Alan Duncan, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, at the 14th Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

“It is very important not to be trapped. Russia's proposals to the UN seem attractive, however, they may simply aim to freeze the violations rather than restoring the rule of international law. We must be very careful about that,” he said.

Alan Duncan noted that the sanctions imposed on Russia are for multiple, flagrant violations of international law, including the annexation of the Crimea.

“It is critical to respond in a single voice to Russia’s actions, and the sanctions against Russia should remain an essential element of such a response. The unity between the G7 and the EU is a sign of our rejection of both Russia's actions and the violation of the international law. When the UK leaves the EU (as a result of Brexit), it will pass a parliamentary act to implement its own sanctions – in order to continue the cooperation with the UN and the EU in so far as the implementation of sanctions against Russia,” he summed up.

The online stream of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) 14^th Annual Meeting will be available online at yes-ukraine.org as well as on the websites of our media partners, in both English and Ukrainian.

The official Twitter of the 14^th YES Annual Meeting is @yes_ukraine, and participants and followers can include the hash tag: #YESUkraine2017