Amid Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that sending any international peacekeepers to Ukraine would result in a direct confrontation between Russia and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), TASS reported.
While addressing the students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Lavrov asserted that Polish authorities have informed that a NATO summit will be organised and they were required to deploy peacekeepers. The Russian Foreign Minister warned that sending peacekeepers to Ukraine could lead to “direct clash” between Russian and NATO armed forces. He added that everyone in the past has said that they do not want NATO and Russia to clash and it must not happen as per the principle.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Poland had offered to send peacekeepers to Ukraine and they had mentioned that they would make the headquarters in Lviv. Earlier on March 19, Lavrov had called Poland’s statement to send NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine “demagoguery,” as per the TASSreport. In his remarks at the Leaders of Russia contest, Lavrov had stated that the NATO needs to understand that they must be “realistic.” The Russian Foreign Minister claimed that NATO might have planned to send peacekeeping force from Poland to Ukraine which would take control of western Ukraine and Lviv. The statement of Lavrov comes as the Poland Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had earlier stated that Ukraine can invite whoever they want to their country including NATO peacekeepers.
Poland to present a proposal for sending peacekeeping mission to Ukraine
Earlier on March 18, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that Poland intends to present a proposal for a peacekeeping mission at the NATO summit which is scheduled for next week in Brussels, CNNreported. Addressing the media in Warsaw, Morawiecki stated that they will be “formally” submitting a proposal for a peace mission in Ukraine at the next NATO summit, as per the news report. Responding to the question regarding consensus on the peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, Morawiecki stated that Poland is “very active” in NATO and the EU, and they will be calling on them to take measures.