MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Ukrainian authorities cannot bar Russia from taking part in the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Moscow envoy to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Andrey Kelin said.
He was responding to an initiative by deputy head of Ukraine's armed forces command center General Alexander Rozmaznin which suggested Russia should be recognised as a party to the Donbas conflict and its representatives excluded from the observer mission.
Ukrainian law enforcers’ desire to exclude Russia was not surprising, Kelin said, since OSCE reports recorded a significant number of artillery bombardments by Ukrainian forces, including by volunteer battalions.
Observers also conducted investigations, he said, in which "it becomes abundantly clear that artillery bombardments with the use of prohibited heavy weapons are carried out by Ukrainian law enforcers, with residential houses and people coming under fire".
Kiev military commanders were unhappy with this, he said, telling Life News TV: "I think they are strongly criticised".
General Rozmaznin was well informed about what was really happening, Kelin said. The initiative he proposed to expel Russia reflected his long-coveted dream: to ensure observers paid no attention to wrongdoings committed by Ukraine's army and monitor only what was happening on the territory of Donbas.
Russia’s envoy regretted that many international organisations took no account of the true-to-life picture emerging from the monitors’ reports and "prefer to take for granted what the Americans say. They are using the same old clichйs, blaming the militias. This is absolutely untrue."
Asked whether the OSCE would agree with Kiev’s proposal, the Russian diplomat said: "Well, of course not. Russia is a key country in the OSCE. Such statements may cause nothing but a smile.".