OSCE begins internal probe into SMM car blast in Donbass

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has launched an internal investigation into an explosion of a car that carried OSCE observers in the Donbass region, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said on Tuesday following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

According to Zannier, the Ukrainian crisis "was one of the key focuses of our debates today, also in light of the unfortunate incident that we had a couple of days ago, when we had the first victim in our operation."

"We are taking this very seriously," he said. "I’m now setting an internal investigation. There will be also a criminal investigation to understand who are responsible for this outcome. There was a mine left on the road that is used also by civilians and the victims could have been others as well."

The OSCE calls on parties to the Ukrainian conflict to implement the agreement on demining.

"It’s important to get all the sides to implement some of the agreements, including the agreement on demining," he said. "It’s a terrible conflict and civilian population is affected very heavily by the combat," Zannier added.

"In addressing terrorism, I do agree, that we need coalitions," he noted. "We need different international organizations, but we need to work also with the civil society. We need to address this issue from many angles. No single government, no single organization can make a difference."

The OSCE secretary general noted the UN’s key role in the fight against terrorism and pointed to the need to strengthen this role and enhance the UN capabilities. In light of this, he spoke out in favor of structural reforms in the UN.

Concerning the OSCE’s contribution to the war on terror, Zannier said a comprehensive approach towards the issue was necessary. "In the OSCE we are really looking at this from various angles," he said. "We are looking at the issue of violent radicalization, because that is also what in many cases provokes terrorism. So we need to work with young people and we need to focus on such issues as education, if education systems don’t work, they can produce terrorism."

"Addressing the question of terrorism, it’s not only a matter of investing more, which is something that needs to be done anyhow, in controlling the borders, in strengthening the police," Zannier said. "We’re looking now also at strengthening the intelligence led policing system, looking into illicit movements of money, looking into money laundering and financial investigations. The OSCE may not be the ideal organization for that, but we also need to move in that direction. (Terrorism) is evolving and we need to evolve ourselves."