Ukrainian foreign minister, OSCE chair discuss SMM's work in Ukraine

16.02.2022 16:41

Ukrinform

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Zbigniew Rau have agreed to make every effort to ensure the full functioning of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said.

In a phone call, Rau informed Kuleba in detail about the results of his visit to Moscow, the statement said.

For his part, Kuleba informed Rau about the security situation near Ukraine's state border and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

Kuleba reiterated that "Ukraine is closely monitoring the real actions of the Russian side after statements about the pullback of troops and will believe in the beginning of de-escalation only if there is a real reduction in the number of troops stationed in these areas."

Kuleba drew Rau's attention to the adoption by Russia's State Duma on February 15 of a resolution asking the Russian president to recognize illegal entities in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Kuleba stressed that if the relevant decision of the Russian leadership is made, this will mean Russia's conscious withdrawal from the Minsk agreements and will have devastating consequences for international law and order and the global security architecture.

Kuleba recalled that Russia must demonstrate transparency of its military activities in accordance with the Vienna Document and provide explanations in accordance with Ukraine's requests.

He also thanked the Polish presidency and stressed Ukraine's readiness to continue fruitful cooperation within the OSCE in implementing its priorities.