MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. The OSCE has next to no influence on the settlement of the situation in Donbass, especially on Kiev’s position on that matter, Russia’s Permanent Representative to that organization Alexander Lukashevich said on Friday.

"As for the OSCE’s mediation, I would say, and I don’t mean to hurt my colleagues working in the Contact Group and other formats, it is a very weak factor," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel when asked whether the organization could promote de-escalation in Donbass.

"They can hardly do anything. Neither can they have any influence, especially on the situation and position of Ukraine, which has actually blocked the entire political process and is building up its forces along the contact line," he said.

"What the SMM (the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission - TASS) is actually doing is reporting a growth in the number of shelling attacks. However, it doesn’t specify from which side as though trying to be neutral, although it is mandated to establish facts and report them to the member nations. Establishing facts doesn’t mean to say only ‘we failed to establish,’ it means to find the reason and the side responsible for such shelling attacks," he added.

He cited the SMM’s latest statistics indicating that more than 80% of all Ukrainian heavy weapons observed by the SMM since March 1 in Donbass outside storage areas were seen at railway stations in the Donetsk and Lugansk region. "It means that the forces are being actively reinforces and are approaching closer to the contact line. So, a question arises and we keep on asking it to the Ukrainian colleagues and Western nations supporting them: ‘What these weapons are for?’ In theory, as follows from Ukraine’s commitments, these weapons were supposed to be withdrawn from the contact line," Lukashevich added.