MINSK, January 19. /TASS/. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) carried out its activities in Ukraine on behalf of the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
"The OSCE made a special decision to create the Special Monitoring Mission that was supposed to monitor the implementation of the Minsk Agreements’ provisions concerning a ceasefire, the disengagement of troops, a return to peaceful life, the restoration of economic ties between the Kiev-controlled areas and the Donbass republics, humanitarian ties, social benefits and many other things," he pointed out at a press conference following a joint board meeting of the Belarusian and Russian foreign ministries.
"The mission’s work was openly biased, it was aimed at supporting the version of events that the Ukrainian authorities painstakingly presented to the public, and in many cases, the mission withheld information about the real situation," Lavrov added.
According to him, Russia "is verifying information that has surfaced in recent months during the special military operation, which gives rise to the suspicion that some of the SMM members did not just withhold information about the actual situation but in fact assisted the Ukrainian regime in preparing and carrying out military actions against civilians."