Ukrainian parliament passes bill allowing deployment of int'l peacekeepers in east

The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday adopted a bill, which called for deploying international peacekeepers in the country's conflict-torn eastern areas, the parliament's press service said.

The bill, submitted by President Petro Poroshenko, was backed by 341 lawmakers in the 450-seat assembly.

The document envisages that Kiev will submit official pleas to the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) to deploy peacekeeping and security missions in Lugansk and Donetsk regions to observe the implementation of a ceasefire between government troops and pro-independence insurgents.

The bill has triggered criticism from the rebels, who said that a possible deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine could derail the Minsk peace agreement, reached on Feb. 12 during the talks involving leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.

Russia was also sceptical about Kiev's intention to call in the peacekeepers, arguing that a peacekeeping mission is unnecessary as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) already has a sufficient number of monitors observing the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. Endite