Why Can’t Russia Send Peacekeepers to the Golan?

The United Nations is scrambling to find new blue helments for its Golan Heights peackeeping mission, which has seen several key contingents withdraw. But not all offers of help are welcome. The UN is rebuffing Russia’s offer to participate. As the New York Times reported earlier this month, Russian president Vladimir Putin is ready to ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

The United Nations is scrambling to find new blue helments for its Golan Heights peackeeping mission, which has seen several key contingents withdraw. But not all offers of help are welcome. The UN is rebuffing Russia's offer to participate. As the New York Times reported earlier this month, Russian president Vladimir Putin is ready to send troops if the Secretary General will only ask. At the United Nations, Russian diplomats have reiterated their willingness.

The United Nations is scrambling to find new blue helments for its Golan Heights peackeeping mission, which has seen several key contingents withdraw. But not all offers of help are welcome. The UN is rebuffing Russia’s offer to participate. As the New York Times reported earlier this month, Russian president Vladimir Putin is ready to send troops if the Secretary General will only ask. At the United Nations, Russian diplomats have reiterated their willingness.

So why can’t Moscow send troops? The Security Council doesn’t have to approve every troop contingent for every mission. And presumably the Syrian government–on whose territory the peacekeeping force operates–would be thrilled to have Russian troops nearby. With Moscow champing at the bit, I’m told that the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations recently sought  clarification on whether Moscow could participate.

The answer from the UN’s legal office was no. While I haven’t seen the response, the key element is no doubt the 1974 Protocol to Agreement on Disengagement Between Israeli and Syrian Forces Concerning the United Nations Disengagement Force. It provides that members of UNDOF shall be selected by the Secretary General in consultation with Syria and Israel and shall be drawn from "members of the United Nations who are not permanent members of the Security Council." 

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

Tag: Russia

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.