Kremlin unhappy with U.S. reaction to separatist attacks on OSCE observers in Ukraine
The Press Secretary to the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, did not like how the United States responded to insurgent attacks on the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in the area of military activity in eastern Ukraine, as reported by the Russian news agency TASS.
"We believe that it is necessary to be more careful in the assessment of the situation, especially in determining the source of provocation ... these same OSCE observers recorded repeatedly that the source of provocative actions are the AFU (Ukrainian Armed Forces)," he said.
After that, Peskov once more began to argue that "Russia is not a party to the conflict."
On February 24, as previously reported, in Yasynuvata, located to the north of Donetsk, an SMM patrol team tried to launch a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone) to monitor the likely shelling of a Donetsk filtration plant. In retaliation, separatist fighters there pointed their guns at the observers and captured the drone; after, one of separatists opened fire in the direction of members of the OSCE SMM.
The United States delegation to the OSCE condemned the attack.
The U.S. State Department released an official statement on the matter. " We call on Russia and the separatist forces it backs to immediately observe the ceasefire, withdraw all heavy weapons, and allow full and unfettered access to the OSCE monitors," it declared.