Serbia Says Not Planning Peacekeepers for Ukraine

Serbia said on Tuesday it was not considering participating in a mooted peacekeeping mission in Ukraine after a US official said Belgrade was among a number of capitals willing to contribute.

Ukraine wants the United Nations to send a peacekeeping mission to its eastern Donbass region, where the West accuses Russia of arming, funding and directly participating in an armed rebellion against Kiev.

In a September 24 interview with Russian radio station Echo of Moscow, the US Special Representative to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, said: "A number of states have already stated that they will be ready to contribute. This was announced by Sweden, Finland, Austria, Belarus, Serbia and Turkey." He said any peacekeeping mission should operate under a UN mandate.

But Serbia's Defence Ministry told BIRN: "The engagement of members of the Serbian Armed Forces in the mission in Ukraine is not planned and the Ministry of Defense at this moment is not considering sending members of the Serbian Armed Forces into a peacekeeping mission under the auspices of the United Nations."

Ukraine has said it plans to submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for a peacekeeping mission in Donbass. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he would not comment yet, but Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Russia was "afraid" of the prospect of a UN peacekeeping force.

"It is afraid that the peacekeepers will see Russian troops and military hardware all over the occupied territory," he told the UN General Assembly last month. "They are also afraid of losing control over the Ukraine-Russia border used by the Kremlin to keep infiltrating its military into Donbas."

Speaking in Belgrade in July, Poroshenko said Kiev counted on...