Ukraine and 33 other OSCE participating countries have come up with a draft ministerial decision on the establishment of permanent monitoring by the OSCE mission of the areas adjacent to uncontrolled section of the Ukrainian-Russian border, but Russia blocked it. This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in his speech during the 27th ministerial council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, - Ukrinform reports.
In his speech, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry drew attention to the fact that observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission continue to record modern Russian weapon inventory, and the mission's UAVs continue to detect the transition of military trucks across the border from Russia to the sovereign territory of Ukraine.
"We thank the 33 participating countries that joined us and became co-authors of the draft ministerial decision on the permanent OSCE monitoring of areas adjacent to the uncontrolled part of the Ukrainian-Russian border", - he noted.
According to the minister, the establishment of such constant monitoring, which is provided for by the Minsk Protocol signed by Russia, "could become another practical OSCE response to the ongoing conflict".
"Blocking this decision by one country - the Russian Federation - has once again demonstrated Moscow's unwillingness to respect its commitments under the Minsk agreements, adhere to the OSCE principles and respect borders in Europe", - Kuleba stated.
As previously reported, on December 3, the two-day 27th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) began, held via videoconferencing for the first time in history due to the COVID-19 pandemic. About 40 foreign ministers of the OSCE participating countries take part in the main event of the Albanian Chairmanship. Ukraine is represented by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. During the online meeting, the ministers will summarize the results of the organization's activities in 2020 and will review the security situation in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian regions. It is expected that the topic of Russian aggression against Ukraine will become one of the main topics of the meeting.