Russia will not allow the OSCE mission in the Crimea
Moscow will not grant the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission access to the Crimea, as stated by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation at the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich, RIA Novosti reports.
"The Crimea is a Russian territory. We had already stipulated long ago, that the mission has nothing to do with the Crimea as it is a part of the Russian Federation. But our Western colleagues interpret this to mean the whole territory of Ukraine, including the Crimea," he said.
According to him, "the mission is not eager to come to the Crimea, understanding that everything is limited by the current territory of Ukraine in which it already operates, so there are no questions at all."
Lukashevich has also negatively responded to the question regarding discussions by the OSCE about the possibility of providing access to the Crimea: "No, absolutely no. The mission realizes that it has no right to work in the Crimea, and we have stated this clearly. The mission cannot request to work in the Crimea, understanding that no consensus will be reached on this matter."
"With the extension of the mandate we always make a statement indicating that the Special Monitoring Mission operates in Ukraine, but not in the Crimea, which is part of the Russian Federation. We emphasize this each time," Lukashevich accentuated.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demanded the Russians to allow the representatives of the OSCE mission to visit facilities in the Crimea, as well as access to the Ukrainian detainees the Crimea.