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Russia wants OSCE to use its leverage on Kiev that sabotages Minsk deal — foreign ministry

Kiev has also been evading dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement

Russian Foreign Ministry Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. At the talks with OSCE Secretary-General Helga Schmid on June 21, Russia is planning to call on the organization’s leadership to use its leverage on Kiev, which has been sabotaging the Minsk agreements and evading dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"In regard to the domestic Ukrainian conflict, we are planning to discuss the work of the Contact Group, where the OSCE is coordinating direct dialogue between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk as parties to the conflict with the goal of implementing the Minsk Package of Measures. We will call on the OSCE leadership to use its leverage on Kiev, which is sabotaging the implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures and evading dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk," the ministry said ahead of a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the OSCE chief.

At the talks, Russia plans deliver remarks on the OSCE reports regarding the Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. "The observers are in no hurry to confirm data on the casualties and damage to the Donbass civilian facilities. They more rarely name the side, which carried out the shellings, although there are possibilities to determine this. We emphasize that the mission’s mandate spreads to the entire territory of Ukraine," the ministry said.

"The observers should report about the situation with observing human rights, pay attention to the situation of ethnic minorities. However, the attention to these aspects, especially in the context of the outburst of neo-Nazism in the country, the violations of language and education rights of its citizens, is insufficient," it stated.

Lavrov and Schmid are due to hold a meeting in Moscow on June 21. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the agenda of talks includes a broad range of issues of the OSCE’s work in three security dimensions - military and political, economic and environmental and human rights.

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