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Poland said last Friday it would formally submit a proposal for
a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at the next NATO summit.
Asked about the initiative, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
said: "It would be a very reckless and extremely dangerous
decision."
He told reporters on a conference call that any possible contact
between Russian and NATO forces "could have clear consequences
that would be hard to repair".
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24
in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern
neighbour's military capabilities and root out people it called
dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has
imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to
withdraw its forces.
Speaking in Kyiv last week, Poland's ruling party leader
Jaroslaw Kaczynski said: "I think that it is necessary to have a
peace mission - NATO, possibly some wider international
structure - but a mission that will be able to defend itself,
which will operate on Ukrainian territory."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also attacked the
proposal in remarks to staff and students at the Moscow State
Institute of International Relations on Wednesday.
"This will be the direct clash between the Russian and NATO
armed forces that everyone has not only tried to avoid but said
should not take place in principle," he said.
(Reporting by Reuters)
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