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Russia calls for boosting efficiency of OSCE SMM in Ukraine — Lavrov

The Russian Foreign Minister underscored that the conflict in eastern Ukraine can be settled only on the basis of full implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures, which has no alternatives

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine must report ceasefire violations clearly and objectively and act more efficiently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday after talks with OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid. 

He said they had discussed in detail prospects for the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. "Once again, we stressed the importance of efforts to help establish direct dialogue between the parties to the conflict, namely Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk, within the Contact Group. So far, however, the Ukrainian authorities are seeking to dodge it. We spoke in favor of boosting the efficiency of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. We reiterated that it must report ceasefire violations clearly and objectively, react instantly and report all cases of the death of civilians in Donbass and name the guilty side," he said.

The minister recalled that in late 2020 the SMM issued a report about civil casualties of the conflict over a period from January 1, 2017 to September 2020. "And this report vividly and convincingly confirmed that fact that has been obvious for us for years that Donbass’ civil population is suffering mostly from Kiev’s actions. There thrice as many casualties after shelling attacks by Ukrainian armed units than after retaliatory fire, I mean on the territories controlled by the government," he said.

"We expect a similar document for the entire conflict period to be published. We expect a report about damages to civil infrastructure facilities and a report about manifestations of aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine. The Special Monitoring Mission is mandated to monitor human rights observance on Ukraine’s entire territory but it often ignores this task," Lavrov added.

"I think that the immediate first step is to clarify all the facts I have just mentioned and the SMM must realize its responsibility for clear and reliable reporting these facts to the organization and the entire world community as well," he stressed.

The minister underscored that the conflict in eastern Ukraine can be settled only on the basis of full implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures, which has no alternatives. "Participants in the Normandy format have repeatedly said that and other OSCE member states say that too," he added.