You're reading: OSCE denies allegations of pro-Russian bias in Ukraine’s east

A spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe refuted allegations of bias within its observation mission in eastern Ukraine voiced by an adviser to the defense minister earlier.

He
said there is only one Russian working in the monitoring mission in
Mariupol, and that was “definitely less than 80 percent,” which
is what a defense ministry official implied.

Vasyl Budik, an adviser to the Defense Ministry, told Ukrainska Pravda website
earlier on Tuesday that he has been told by mission representatives in Mariupol
that 80 percent of the mission is composed of Russian nationals.

“What
are Russia’s representatives doing in our positions? It’s not a
secret that there is a war going on, and Russia is taking an active
part in it. I am against Russians being a part of the mission. Do
replace them with anyone else because they’re not doing the job
they’re supposed to,” said Budik, according to the website.

He
also said that most of those Russians come from secret services, and
use derogatory forms of address when they describe Ukrainian
soldiers. But Bociurkiw insisted that the main principles of work of
the OSCE is neutrality and objectivity.

OSCE
has been running an observation mission in eastern Ukraine and
producing daily reports about its work in the region. It has also
been a party in negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and separatists
that have taken place in Minsk, and signatories of the cease-fire
deal on Sept. 5.

This
is not the first time the mission comes under fire for its work in
Ukraine, however.

Dmytro Tymchuk, leader of Information Resistance, a
civic initiative with a mission to inform the public about the war,
had previously said in his public blog that he refused to meet with
OSCE representatives because of their alleged bias towards Russia
after it released a report about the shelling of school #63 in
Donetsk last week, which killed two teenagers.

In
the report, the mission said the shelling came from northwest of
Donetsk, which many Russian
and foreign media interpreted as coming from the Ukrainian
positions. But OSCE denied it assigned blame, saying it only
identified the direction from which the attack came.

Tymchuk
said that his group has also recorded at least four cases when OSCE
vehicles were used by Russia-backed separatists, and said OSCE
recognized one such facts and issued an apology, stopping short of
explaining how it could happen in the first place.

Tymchuk
also said that his group has recorded cases when separatists knew
about OSCE’s movements, and were able to remove heavy weaponry in
time for the observation mission’s arrival.

Kyiv Post+ is a public service offering special coverage of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the aftermath of the EuroMaidan Revolution. All articles, investigative reports and opinions published under this heading are free for republication during Ukraine’s time of national emergency. Kyiv Post+ is a collaboration of the Kyiv Post newspaper and the affiliated non-profit Media Development Foundation.