London and Paris's discussions on sending deterrent forces to Ukraine are preparations for foreign intervention, Alexey Polishchuk, Director of the Second CIS Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik.
"The issue of peacekeeping is not on the agenda now. According to world practice, the main condition for deploying peacekeepers is achieving a peaceful settlement or a sustainable ceasefire," he said.
Kiev is rejecting the peace process and is even sabotaging the moratorium on strikes on energy facilities, according to the Russian official.
"The negotiations on the formation of the so-called deterrent forces, which are currently being conducted by the 'coalition of the willing' led by France and Britain, are in fact a preparation for foreign intervention," he noted.
French President Emmanuel Macron said after hosting the summit of the "coalition of the willing" in Paris on March 27 that a number of countries wanted to send troops to Ukraine as "deterrent forces." He said that the UK-French initiative would be neither a replacement for Ukrainian troops nor a peacekeeping force. The goal would be to deter Russia by stationing troops in the strategic locations.
A repetition of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) pseudo-peacekeeping scenario in Ukraine is unacceptable, Polishchuk emphasized.
"We must also remember the negative experience of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine in 2014-2022," he argued.
Polishchuk recalled that "its employees were supposed to monitor the implementation of the Minsk agreements, but in fact they worked for one of the parties to the conflict, falsifying reports in favor of Kiev and conducting intelligence activities against Donetsk and Lugansk."
"A repeat of such pseudo-peacekeeping is unacceptable, as is foreign intervention under peace-guarantee flags," the diplomat pointed out.
Commenting on the conditions for direct talks with Kiev, he said that Russia is open to discussing serious proposals that take into account modern realities.
"The Russian side is open to discussing serious and realistic proposals that take into account modern realities and lead to eliminating the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis and achieving a truly comprehensive, fair and lasting peace," Polishchuk explained.
Meanwhile, a channel of correspondence on consular and legal issues has been established between Russia and Ukraine through their embassies in Belarus, the official added.