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Kiev has ‘abstract objections’ to draft resolution on OSCE mission - Lavrov

According to Lavrov, the aim of Tuka’s initiative was "simply to supress DPR and LPR, to establish rules that would simply clamp on the Minsk accords there"

UN, September 20. /TASS/. So far, Kiev has failed to produce any concrete feedback regarding Russia’s resolution on guarding the OSCE mission, voicing only "abstract objections," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday after talks with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

"When a resolution is submitted, countries willing to put forward any proposals regarding its text, are always invited to do so. We have sent such invitations to all of our colleagues," Lavrov told reporters. "We held negotiations, but so far we failed to hear anything concrete regarding our text. Some abstract objections have been voiced, including by our Ukrainian partners.

"It was also declared that between 40,000 and 60,000 armed soldiers must be deployed immediately," he said, commenting on an initiative voiced by Georgy Tuka, Ukraine’s deputy minister on issues of self-proclaimed territories.

According to Lavrov, the aim of Tuka’s initiative was "simply to supress DPR and LPR, to establish rules that would simply clamp on the Minsk accords there."

"Our proposal is very clear: the peacekeepers will only protect the special monitoring mission of the OSCE and only when they perform their duties stipulated by the Minsk agreements," Lavrov said. "Any other objective of a peacekeeping mission will mean that those agreements have derailed, and this is what in my opinion the Ukrainian side has been seeking.".