OSCE in Ukraine closes its mission due to Russia's actions/UNIAN monitoring mission in Ukraine. This was stated by the current head of the OSCE, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Zbigniew Rau and OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid.
The corresponding decision was made after the lack of consensus at the OSCE Permanent Council on March 31, 2022. Then they did not decide whether to continue the mandate of the Mission.
Russia's position left no other choice
This is not an easy decision. We have explored all possible options through political dialogue with the participating States in order to achieve the continuation of the mandate of the Special Monitoring Mission, but the position of Russia left us no choice but to take steps to close the Mission,” Zbigniew Rau said.
He emphasized that the work of the Mission played a decisive role in providing objective information on the ground. According to him, she contributed to the ceasefire and work to mitigate the effects of the conflict on the civilian population. At the same time, the leadership is already considering alternatives for the future role of the OSCE in Ukraine.
Helga Maria Schmid added that the OSCE has played an important role for eight years. She provided invaluable and objective facts on the ground. The Mission also facilitated dialogue and allowed infrastructure repairs. The latter is very important because millions of people depend on it.
I am very proud of the members of our mission, who have worked tirelessly to fulfill their most important tasks, in good times and bad,” she added.
The OSCE stressed that the Mission is being closed. At the same time, they will try to do everything possible to ensure that its members throughout Ukraine remain safe.
Latest on OSCE activities in Ukraine
- March 31 Russia vetoed the work of the OSCE SMM in Ukraine. 56 countries voted “for”, but the aggressor country voted “against”.
- On April 23, it became known that the Russian military captured members of the monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine. This was announced by the Deputy Head of the British Delegation to the OSCE, Deirdre Brown.
- Later, the OSCE reacted to the captured employees. The Organization emphasized that they are doing everything possible to fire them.
- But the US ambassador to the OSCE denied Russia's lies. The aggressor country emphasized that the detained employees were “spies”.
