MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sticks to a policy of tacit approval of Ukraine’s non-compliance with the Minsk agreements, Boris Gryzlov, Russian Plenipotentiary Representative to the Contact Group seeking peace for eastern Ukraine, told reporters on Wednesday after a regular round of talks.
"The lack of OSCE representatives’ proper response to Ukraine’s blatant attempts to derail the peace process may indicate that there is essentially a policy of tacit approval of the facts that Ukraine implements neither the ceasefire agreements, nor the Minsk accords in general," he said.
Moreover, in his opinion, "Ukraine tries to divert the political discussion away from drawing up the joint conflict resolution plan of action by both Kiev and the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, which is the key issue for achieving political settlement in the intra-Ukrainian crisis."
Earlier in the day, Natalia Nikonorova, foreign minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the republic’s envoy to the peace talks, said that recently the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission has exerted nearly no effort to reduce tensions in Donbass, nor has given an impartial assessment of Ukraine’s actions that openly defy the Minsk agreements.
Escalation in Donbass
On July 27, 2020, additional ceasefire control measures came into effect in Donbass after being approved on July 22 by the Contact Group seeking peace for eastern Ukraine. The measures ban any offensive, intelligence or sabotage activities, the use of all types of aircraft, any shooting, and the deployment of heavy weapons to populated localities. One of the key provisions of the agreement stipulates disciplinary measures for ceasefire violations.
Despite the agreement, tensions began escalating in Donbass in late February 2021. Intense exchanges of gunfire continued to take place along the contact line again. Both sides have reported causalities.
The situation has deteriorated once again along the contact line in Donbass after officers of the Ukrainian security services had captured Andrei Kosyak, the envoy of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) to the Joint Center on Ceasefire Control and Coordination (JCCC), on October 13. The LPR said that Kosyak was ensuring compliance with the ceasefire during road clearance works that had been previously agreed with Kiev. Despite the LPR representatives’ appeals, Kiev refuses to hold talks on the officer’s release.
On October 27, Denis Pushilin, the DPR head, said that the Ukrainian army seized Staromaryevka, a settlement located in the "grey zone" in the south of the disengagement line between the parties to the conflict in Donbass.