Kyiv criticizes Moscow's idea of deploying OSCE monitors at Russian-Ukrainian border
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry views Russian Foreign Ministry's initiative on deploying OSCE monitors only at the Russian checkpoints as a provocation, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry information policy department deputy chief Vasyl Zvarych has said.
"The Russian Foreign Ministry's initiative on deploying OSCE monitors only at the Russian checkpoints is aimed at disorienting the international community regarding the real situation at the border and discrediting the Ukrainian leadership's efforts," Zvarych said at a news conference on Tuesday commenting on Russia's idea of inviting OSCE monitors to the Donetsk and Gukovo border checkpoints on its territory.
Kyiv believes that an OSCE monitoring mission may make impartial conclusions only by monitoring the situation in the border regions both in Ukraine and in Russia, Zvarych said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry reported earlier that Russia had invited OSCE monitors to its Donetsk and Gukovo checkpoints at the border with Ukraine as a goodwill gesture, even before a ceasefire has been reached in southeastern Ukraine.