Contents tagged with Kurt Volker

  • Volker and Surkov fail to reach united position on Ukraine

    On Monday November 13, US Department of State Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker and Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov conducted negotiations in Belgrade.

    The US embassy in Russia reported that there was comprehensive discussion of the current diplomatic state of affairs regarding efforts to stop the fighting in the Donbas.

    “It is not surprising that the United States and Russia have different concepts for how to make peace, but we will continue to work to get there. …

  • Volker: Russia has two options in the Donbas: frozen conflict or troop withdrawal

    US Department of State Special representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker has said that Russia has two options for action in the Donbas, but denies the possibility of the situation transforming into a long-term conflict.

    Volker said this during a briefing at the US Department of State, reports Voice of America.

    "Look, I think it’s a binary choice for Russia. Would it like to create another frozen conflict, occupied territory, like Abkhazia or South Ossetia or Transdniestria, which…carries with it …

  • Volker: Russia controls everything that happens in the Donbas

    During a press briefing in Washington, US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker said that the Russian Federation controls 100% of what is happening in the Donbas.

    In answering a question about the lack of dialogue between Kyiv and the pseudo-republics of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), Volker disagreed with the assumption made by Russian journalists that the situation in the Donbas constitutes an "internal strife".

    "It's …

  • US Representative for Ukraine Volker: there is no agreement between Russia and US on peacekeepers in Donbas

    US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker said that the Russian Federation and the United States have not yet reached an agreement on the possibility of deploying a UN mission in eastern Ukraine during a meeting with journalists.

    He recalled that in September, Russia proposed deploying a peacekeeping contingent on the contact line in the Donbas to protect the staff of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM).

    "The Russian proposal was only for the line of conflict and only to protect …

  • US advises Ukraine not to propose its own resolution on peacekeepers in Donbas, but instead to reach agreement with Russia

    The US advised Ukraine not to introduce a competing resolution on the UN peacekeeping mission in the Donbas in response to the Russian resolution, but rather to attempt to reach an agreement, as expressed by US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker.

    “Several years ago Ukraine introduced the idea of deploying a UN peacekeeping mission in Eastern Ukraine. At the time Russia was not willing to look into it. When Russia put forward its own idea in September, Ukraine was …

  • LPR and DPR declare that UN peacekeepers will not be allowed into the Donbas without their permission

    Representatives of the so-called LPR and DPR, Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deynego, have reacted to statements by the US Department of State's Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, asserting that the deployment of peacekeepers to the Donbas does not need to be coordinated with the separatist republics.

    The representatives from the unrecognized republics assert that they are equal participants in the negotiations, since the leaders of the so-called “People's Republics”, Zakharchenko …

  • Lavrov calls UN peacekeepers in the Donbas 'occupying forces'

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov considers US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker's statement on the mandatory withdrawal of Russian troops from the Donbas to contradict the efforts of the Normandy format countries.

    "There is a way forward: it is an unswerving, conscientious implementation of the Minsk agreements. This has long been carefully handled by the assistants of our leaders in the Normandy format, who agree on a 'road map' that synchronizes steps that increase …

  • US representative for Ukraine Volker: DPR and LPR do not belong in the Donbas negotiation process

    The US Department of State’s Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, believes that representatives from the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics have no place in the negotiation process to resolve the situation in the Donbas. He expressed his opinion in an interview with Hromadske, while answering a question regarding the role of LDPR in the Minsk negotiations.

    "I believe that this issue was decided; that the Minsk agreements are between Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE. The …

  • Ukrainian MP: Resolution on UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas may be prepared by end of 2017

    A UN Security Council resolution on a peacekeeping mission in the Donbas may be drawn up by the end of 2017, Ukrainian MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc Volodymyr Ariev wrote on Facebook after the meeting of parliamentarians with Kurt Volker, the US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine.

    According to Ariev, the major points of the resolution will be drawn up by Volker himself.

    In Volker’s opinion, “the blue helmets must control the entire territory, including the border, and …

  • US Representative for Ukraine Volker: Russia must withdraw its forces before UN peacekeepers enter Donbas

    Russia must withdraw its forces so that the UN peacekeeping mission can start its work in the Donbas, and Ukraine must coordinate with the UN, US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker told Hromadske in an interview.

    According to him, initially the parties must agree on the mission’s mandate and determine the composition and number of its staff. These matters are the topic of current negotiations.

    He added that the mission’s presence must become a necessary element in the area of …