MOSCOW, June 11. /ITAR-TASS/. OSCE Secretary General will visit a camp of refugees from Ukraine in Russia’s Rostov region. Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov confirmed this at a meeting with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier on Wednesday.

“I know that in the course of your trip, you will visit the Rostov region, where you will meet with refugees from the Donetsk region,” Lavrov said. “I believe this is useful.”

The Russian Foreign Minister also noted that the OSCE mission should continue operating in Ukraine and make its work more concrete.

“We believe that the OSCE Mission should continue its work. We discussed this issue on February 25. Many events have occurred since then,” Lavrov said at a meeting with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier on Wednesday.

“It is necessary to make the work of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission more concrete and substantial,” he said.

Any attempts to replace OSCE roadmap by other plans are counterproductive, Russia’s minister of foreign affairs emphasized.

“We laud the Swiss-drafted ‘roadmap’ on Ukraine de-escalation in the development of the agreements, reached in Geneva on April 17,” Lavrov said. “We’re confident that the ‘roadmap’, backed by major international players, is the basis for the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine,” he added.

“We’re sure that the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and his special representatives must be committed to the provisions of the ‘roadmap’,” he said.

“It is necessary to concentrate the efforts to cease violence and launch a dialogue on the constitutional reform and the country’s future system with the participation of all political forces and regions,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov added that Russia was providing humanitarian aid to residents of south-eastern Ukraine through militia members since Kiev had refused to do this. “We’re providing aid by all means available through militiamen, who voice concern over suffering endured by their children, mothers and wives,” Lavrov said.

 

Refugees from Ukraine in the Rostov region

June 9, it was reported that only in three days, about 20 thousand women and children from localities of Ukraine’s south-east crossed the state border in the Rostov region

As of June 6, more than 12 thousand Ukrainian residents arrived to Russia, according to reports.

Ukrainian citizens leaving south-eastern localities of Ukraine that resulted in the combat area are mostly heading through Rostov region in transit. Only part of them remains in temporary allocation camps for refugees arranged by the Rostov region’s authorities.

 

Russia, OSCE uphold discussions on European security

Russia upholds the efforts taken by OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier for launching the Helsinki+40 Process, Sergei Lavrov has said.

The Helsinki+40 Process is an inclusive effort by all participating States to provide strong and continuous political impetus to advancing work towards a security community, and further strengthening co-operation in the OSCE on the way towards 2015.

“We believe that the OSCE CiO should pay attention to removing the obstacles that hamper the Helsinki+40 Process,” Lavrov said.

Zanier said he agreed with the need to continue discussions on the reform of European security architecture.

It is necessary to draw conclusions from the Ukrainian events, he said.