Moscow - The immediate halt of the army operation in Ukraine is the key to the alleviation of tensions, Russian Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Andrei Kelin said.
“We expect the new Ukrainian administration to do the utmost for
stopping this conflict and resolving this crisis. Russia is ready to
support and actively promote negotiations and agreements between the
Ukrainians. It is impossible to protract this crisis and to continue to
stake on military force,” Kelin said at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent
Council.
The speech made on Thursday was posted on the Russian Foreign
Ministry’s website on Friday, June 13. Kelin also suggested that the OSCE
Permanent Council support the roadmap of its Swiss
chairperson-in-office.
“This is a good and universal foundation for the political settlement
of the crisis. Our common support to the roadmap could become a
significant element of stability amid the ongoing crisis. We have
released a draft resolution to this effect. It is simple and
non-politicized. We propose to study it thoroughly and to pass it at the
next meeting of the Permanent Council,” the Russian envoy continued.
He also called for assisting in the search for crisis solutions.
“Irrespective of various interpretations of the Ukrainian crisis
genesis, we should now concentrate on the joint assistance in the
Ukrainian search for ways out of this situation,” Kelin said.
Moscow hopes that special representatives of the Swiss
chairperson-in-office will actively implement key provisions of the
roadmap, primarily draw up lasting agreements on the immediate ceasefire
and the creation of conditions for a genuine all-Ukrainian dialogue
involving every political force and region of Ukraine, he said.
The envoy indicated that the potential of observers described by
colleagues as the OSCE “eyes and ears” in Ukraine was far from being
used fully.
“I am confident that they see and hear a lot of things but the
information we receive from mission reports is rather scarce. We think
that mission reports for member states should be more substantive. It is
totally impermissible if the mission is pressured and omits certain
facts,” Kelin said.
It is important for all people in Ukraine, including southeastern
regions, to see that mission reports present the actual situation and
not to doubt their impartially and fullness. “Otherwise, it will not be
easy to provide operations of the observer mission throughout the
Ukrainian territory and its security,” he added.
Kelin also noted that “the National Guard fired incendiary bombs
prohibited by the Geneva Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in
the Sloviansk suburbs on Thursday morning.”
“We are being told that the Ukrainian authorities demonstrate
self-control. But this is not true. Populated areas are being turned
into ruins and civilians and children die. This is confirmed even by the
Ukrainian media. Girls aged six and eight and a twelve-year-old boy
have died from fragmentation wounds in Sloviansk,” he said.
