Pavlo Klimkin: Ukraine needs help of the UN and OSCE to regain control at the border with Russia

Ukraine needs help of such international organizations as the OSCE and the UN to return full control of the common border with Russia, said Pavlo Klimkin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, during the 8th Kyiv Security Forum organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation.

“The boundary issue will depend on whether the whole general package of agreements can, or can not be implemented,” – he said.

“It may be done in an evolutionary way – starting from cooperation with the OSCE, providing its mission with real access to the border. As far as nominally the mandate should cover the whole territory of Ukraine, including the borders,” – Pavlo Klimkin mentioned.

Thus, according to the minister, Ukraine needs help from the UN and the EU as well. “We seek for the international presence of the United Nations. We are talking now about the office of the UN in the support of the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Or there may be two options: a civilian mission, which will not require the approval of the Security Council, or the civil-military mission that will be more difficult to realize, taking into consideration that Russian military troops are already in the Donbass area. Or it might be the UN mission or some combination of different missions,” – he said.

“And it is only about the Russian position. The Donbass region can not be stabilized in the nearest future in any other way,” – considers the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

He believes that the core of Russian policy is not a question of Donbass or of the border: “It is all about Ukraine, kept unstable and weak. That is made in order not to solve, but to create new problems for Ukraine”.

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The annual international event ‘Kyiv Security Forum’, established by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation in 2007 is aplatform to discuss the most pressing issues concerning the security in Europe and the Black Sea region. The Forum is aimed at promoting security cooperation between the European Union and the Black Sea Region, raising awareness of the development of security among key players and strengthening the role of independent and non-governmental actors in solving security problems in Europe.