Lavrov reprimanded Zelensky in the presence of the OSCE Secretary General
Vladimir Zelensky not only preserved, but also aggravated the problem of non-compliance with the Minsk agreements by Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated this at a press conference following a meeting with the OSCE Secretary General, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We once again emphasized the importance of OSCE assistance in establishing direct dialogue between the parties to the conflict - Kyiv and Donetsk with Lugansk in the contact group, which the Kyiv authorities are trying to evade for now.
We reminded the OSCE mission that it must report ceasefire violations clearly and impartially. “React without delay and record in your reports all cases of death and injury of civilians in Donbass, indicating the guilty party,” the minister said.
He recalled that the latest OSCE SMM report on civilian casualties of the conflict clearly and convincingly confirms the obvious fact that civilians in Donbass are mainly suffering from Kyiv’s actions.
“Victims from shelling by Ukrainian armed forces have been recorded three times more than victims mainly from retaliatory fire, I mean in government-controlled territory. We expect the publication of a similar document covering the entire period of the conflict and a report on the destruction of civilian infrastructure, as well as manifestations of aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine,” said Sergei Lavrov.
He noted that the OSCE mandate provides for the possibility of activities throughout the territory of Ukraine, which is most often neglected in the mission.
In turn, OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid agreed that there was no alternative to the Minsk agreements and noted the importance of consensus on this issue between the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States at the recent Russian-American summit in Geneva.
“I will do everything in my power to contribute to a peaceful resolution of the conflict. But this is impossible unless all parties that signed Minsk reconfirm their obligations and commit with renewed vigor to their implementation. It is important to reaffirm our commitment to the general framework agreements, especially those reached in Paris in 2019,” she said.
Lavrov recalled that it was in Paris that a document was approved, the first points of which were the disengagement of forces and assets along the entire line of contact in Donbass.
“President Zelensky refused to accept this particular point, which, as Helga Schmid herself said, is crucial for the well-being of people, in order to ensure their safety. He only spoke out in favor of carrying out such a separation at only three points, but the coordination of these points is still ongoing. In other words, instead of solving this problem once and for all, protecting people on both sides of the contact line, President Zelensky preserved and aggravated this problem,” stated the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
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