RIA Novosti: No Plans to Send Peacekeepers to Ukraine – Putin Aide

MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is not discussing on a practical level sending an international peacekeeping force to Ukraine, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov told journalists Friday.

Responding to a comment on a suggestion by Russian politicians to send an international peacekeeping force to Ukraine, Ushakov said it “wasn’t discussed on a practical level.”

Earlier on Friday, Valeriy Shnyakin, a senator and member of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, said that Russia’s upper house could appeal to the Russian leadership with a proposal to hold international talks on sending peacekeeping troops to the eastern regions of Ukraine.

A curfew has been announced in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slaviansk after a group of unknown gunmen launched a deadly attack on a checkpoint near the city on Easter Sunday last weekend.

The leader of self-defense forces, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, known as “acting Slaviansk mayor,” said the attack came in violation of the cease-fire announced ahead of Easter celebrations across Ukraine last Sunday and called on Russia to send its peacekeepers to the region.