Russian Interior Minister Highlights UN Peacekeeping Role, Calls for Dialogue

MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev noted the importance of UN peacekeeping operations and called for the peacekeepers to focus on achieving reconciliation between the warring parties through dialogue, official ministry representative Irina Volk said.

"The Russian minister stated that UN peacekeeping operations are a significant tool for strengthening international security, thanks to which, over 78 years, it has been possible to create the prerequisites for restoring and maintaining sustainable peace in many countries and regions. It is important to keep the peacekeepers in the focus of achieving the goals of sustainable reconciliation of the warring parties through dialogue and then entering the political process," she said in a statement after a meeting between Kolokoltsev and UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix in New York.

Besides, Kolokoltsev said that decisions on the future of UN peacekeeping should be made directly in the organization. The UN Special Committee of on Peacekeeping Operations was proposed as the optimal platform for this, as it is able to make the most qualified decisions on reform initiatives promoted by the UN Secretariat.