President Putin: Russia ready to replace Austrian peacekeepers

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia was ready to replace Austrian peacekeepers as part of a UN monitoring force on the border between Israeli troops and the Syrian army. Meanwhile the Russian parliament members on Friday supported Putins move, reported Russian Ria-Novosti news agency today. The United Nations would welcome Russian peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, UN spokesman Farhan Haq told RIA Novosti on Friday. The Russian peacekeepers in the area would enhance the countrys international standing and the authority of its armed forces, and have a positive impact on the situation in the region as a whole, said Valery Shnyankin, deputy head of the international relations committee at the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament. Commenting on the step, Frants Klintsevich, the deputy head of the State Duma Defense Committee, said Russian peacekeepers in the Golan Heights would be the best possible deal for both Syria and Israel, since "there is a significant level of trust in Russia on both sides there," compared with peacekeepers from any other country, including the United States. In any event, this is a "big politics" issue and it is up to the president to make the final decision, Klintsevich said.