OSCE applies early conflict prevention tools, third time in history - Kuleba

Yesterday, for the third time in history, OSCE Secretary General, Helga Schmid, applied tools for early conflict prevention in connection with the escalation near Ukraine's borders.

This was stated by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who spoke at an online briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Yesterday we took another important diplomatic step. OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid applied an early conflict prevention toolkit. This is only the third case in the history of the practical application of these OSCE tools. The previous two concerned the events in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone in 2012 and Russia's illegal detention of Ukrainian sailors in 2018. In practice, this means that the OSCE Secretary General addressed a special letter to all heads of state delegations drawing the attention of the OSCE Permanent Council to rising tensions and the risk of escalation," Kuleba said.

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He added that this step to diplomatically prevent further escalation is an initiative of the OSCE Secretary General, for which the Ukrainian side is grateful.

The Foreign Minister said that Schmid, without mentioning the countries in whose relation the mechanism had been activated, called for the immediate full and effective use of the mechanism to boost confidence and strengthen security to de-escalate the situation and refrain from actions that could make the situation worse.

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As Ukrinform reported earlier, some 119,000 Russian servicemen had massed along the Ukrainian borders with Russia and Belarus, as well as in the temporarily occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Together with the aerial and maritime components, their number amounts to 140,000.

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