MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Ministry voiced concerns on Monday over Ukraine’s illegal checks of monitors of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), saying that such steps are "absolutely unacceptable."
"Such actions are a flagrant violation of commitments of Ukraine’s authorities on ensuring security, immunity and freedom of movement of the monitors of the OSCE special monitoring mission," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said this hampers the fulfillment of the mission’s mandate and tasks to observe the implementation of the Minsk agreements approved by the Normandy Four countries' leaders and UN Security Council resolution 2202.
The reports of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine often describe the cases when the military and voluntary battalions stop their vehicles in the areas controlled by Kiev troops to check the documents of the monitors. The most recent cases occurred in Lebedinskoye, Gnutovo near southern port city of Mariupol, Solodko near Donetsk, Stanitsa Luganskaya and Makarovo near Luhansk, the ministry said.
The international monitors are often directly asked if there are any Russian citizens among them. In such an incident in the Lugansk region in late March, a Ukrainian serviceman threatened that any Russian member of the OSCE mission would be killed.
"Such facts lead to resentment and are absolutely unacceptable," the ministry said, adding that the order on the checks apparently comes from a "single center" confirming the true intentions of its authors.
The ministry called on the Ukrainian authorities to stop the illegal checks and stick to their international commitments, including in regard to the Special Monitoring Mission.