28 May 2021, Friday, 19:04 240

Ukraine Considers It Unconstructive To Reduce Mandate Of OSCE Mission At Border Checkpoints From 4 To 2 Months By Russia

Редактор: Tetiana Herasimova

Ukraine considers it unconstructive position of Russia to reduce the term of extension of the mandate of the observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at border checkpoints from four to two months.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said this in a statement, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"On May 28, the OSCE Permanent Council adopted a consensus decision to extend the mandate of the Observer Mission at the Russian border checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk until July 31. The Russian Federation prevented the continuation of the mission's mandate for a standard four-month period, reducing it to two months without objective reasons. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry considers the position of the Russian Federation to reduce the duration of the mandate of the OSCE Observer Mission as unconstructive," the statement reads.

The ministry focuses on the fact that the mission's work is important in the context of the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, in particular, the point on ensuring permanent monitoring on the Russian-Ukrainian state border.

"This decision significantly increases the administrative burden on international observers and undermines the monitoring capabilities of the mission, which are already complicated by unreasonable restrictions on the part of Russia," the statement said.

The Foreign Ministry believes that by creating obstacles to the work of the mission, Russia seeks to continue the unhindered supply of weapons, military equipment, ammunition, regular troops and mercenaries to the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The ministry emphasizes that the Russian Federation is obliged to unswervingly fulfill its obligations under the Minsk Agreements, which remain critically important for de-escalation of the situation and the settlement of the armed conflict in Donbas.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Ukraine is asking the OSCE to pay more attention to the situation in Crimea annexed by Russia through the efforts of a special monitoring mission.