The Ukrainian side in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) at a meeting on Tuesday called on the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to immediately begin enhanced monitoring of the Azov Sea and adjacent territories in connection with the military provocation of the Russian Federation in Azov Sea, First Deputy Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament and Ukraine’s envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group’s humanitarian subgroup Iryna Gerashchenko has said.
“The Ukrainian side condemned the open armed aggression of the Russian Federation in the Sea of Azov and called on the OSCE SMM, whose mandate covers the entire territory of Ukraine, to immediately begin enhanced monitoring of the Azov Sea and adjacent territories, which according to the Minsk agreements, should be free from heavy weapons and equipment,” Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook on Tuesday evening
She also said that during the meeting, the Ukrainian side had expressed strong protest over the inadmissibility of the OSCE SMM in Novoazovsk and other territories occupied by the Russian Federation.
“At the same time, the Russian side actually blocked the discussion of military provocation in the Azov Sea,” added Gerashchenko.
