Former NATO Secretary General and EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana is sticking to his desire for a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis.

Former NATO Secretary General and EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana is sticking to his desire for a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis.

The Ukraine conflict is being resolved in a diplomatic manner, Solana told Interfax, adding he did not want to give an impression that he preferred other methods. He said they should see what happens next but so far the diplomatic and political efforts were focused on the strict fulfillment of the Minsk agreements which would take at least a year. Meanwhile, a military solution is ruled out, he said.

Solana does not think it is realistic to deploy peacekeepers in eastern Ukraine under the current circumstances.

He said the very idea of the deployment of peacekeeping troops to Ukraine should not be discussed with the UN secretary general as it was extremely hard to implement. One should be aware of the UN realities and understand that Russia will never agree to that at the UN Security Council, Solana stated.

He also said he did not approve of Western deliveries of lethal armaments to Kiev. Solana said he could not speak on behalf of the EU but, in his opinion, the efforts should be focused on diplomacy powered by sanctions and that would be a measured position for now. There is no military solution to the Ukraine conflict, and it would not be right to arm a conflicting side. Europe cannot send troops, so its actions are limited to sanctions, Solana observed.

Leonid Slutsky, the head of the State Duma committee on CIS affairs: "The decision made by U.S. President Barack Obama to refrain from supplying U.S. lethal weapons to Ukraine, which was made after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, increases the chances for the implementation of the Minsk agreements".

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk have welcomed the United Kingdom's contribution to efforts aimed at settling the Ukrainian crisis and maintaining security in the country.

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