Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba described the "elections" which are being prepared by Russia on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as another farce and called on the OSCE to respond to these criminal actions of the aggressor state.

"It is a well-known fact that Russia is preparing another farce on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, which it will call elections. I would like to make it clear once again that current Russian dictatorship has nothing in common with either elections or democracy, and, hence, the OSCE should respond to these criminal actions," he said at a joint press conference with OSCE Chair-in-Office Ian Borg in Kyiv on February 2.

In addition, the Ukrainian minister raised with his colleague the issue of protecting the rights of national minorities on the territory of Russia.

"It is not only about the Ukrainian minority – the recent events in Ufa have become another evidence of the fact that Russia is, as the classic said, a prison of nations. Bashkirs stood up for an activist who is being tried by the Kremlin for opposing the war and supporting the Bashkir culture and identity," Kuleba said.

He also emphasized that "Russia has been mobilizing exactly national minorities for death in Ukraine to pursuit two goals: continued aggression and ethnic cleansing on its territory."

The OSCE has instruments to protect the rights of national minorities, the minister said.

"We are calling on the OSCE to make the issue of national minority rights in Russia a priority one on the agenda of the human dimension of the OSCE," he said.

Kuleba also noted that further isolation of Russian diplomats and propagandists "is a matter of both collective security and collective information hygiene."