Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Mission to the OSCE Gregory Macris stated that “Russia continues to block the expansion of the geographic scope of the Observer Mission along the border.”

"We once again must accept an inadequate, limited-scope mission covering just two border checkpoints, which together account for only a few hundred meters of the 2,300-kilometer Ukrainian-Russian border, much of which Ukraine does not control,” reads the statement published on the US State Department’s website.

The statement also said, “the Russian Federation’s repeated refusal to allow expansion of the scope of this mission shows, regrettably, once again, that it refuses to fulfill its Minsk commitments.” The Minsk Protocol clearly defines the OSCE’s role to monitor and verify both sides of the Ukrainian-Russian international border for creating a security zone in the border areas of both countries.

Macris stressed that “due to Russia’s unwarranted restrictions of the border Observer Mission’s work, the Mission will continue to be unable to ascertain the full extent to which Russia is participating in or facilitating the flow of arms, funding, and personnel to support the separatists in eastern Ukraine.”

The OSCE Council adopted a decision to deploy checkpoint observers at Gukovo and Donetsk on July 24, 2014. The mandate was planned for three months but was extended afterwards. Russian border crossings Gukovo and Donetsk are across from Ukrainian Izvarino and Chervonopartysansk border crossings.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) started its work on March 21, 2014 at the request of the Ukrainian Government and a consensus decision of all 57 participating OSCE countries. The SMM is an unarmed Civilian mission that works in all regions of Ukraine.

Its main tasks are to observe and report on the situation in Ukraine and promote dialogue between all parties of the conflict impartially and objectively.  The activities of the mission mainly focus on the Donbas.

  USA, Russia, OSCE

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