With an eye toward ending the conflict within Ukraine, a new report from former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, currently working as an adviser to the Ukrainian government, is pushing for the UN to commit 20,000 troops to the country.
The 20,000 troops would be from “non-NATO countries,” with only Sweden and Belarus named as potentials. The report argues this would ensure the ceasefire, and allow local elections in Eastern Ukraine.
While the report supposedly isn’t specifically intended to provoke a fight with Russia, the fact that it was created at the behest of a former NATO chief, who is working for a Ukrainian president repeatedly predicting World War 3 starting in Ukraine against Russia, the report clearly must be taken with a grain of salt.
Ukraine wanting more foreign troops in the country is nothing new, but the suggestion this might facilitate local elections is, as the Poroshenko government has been resisting any free elections in Eastern Ukraine for months, arguing no vote can take place until the rebels surrender outright.