DPR notes sharp decrease in OSCE Donbass monitoring

Donetsk, Apr 30 – DAN. The Donetsk People’s Republic Office at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) said that a decrease in monitoring activity by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission on the contact line in Donbass was a negative signal.

“Regrettably, the OSCE SMM does not monitor or record all facts or aftermath of ceasefire violations by Ukrainian armed formations,” the JCCC said. “Of 118 damaged houses and 20 infrastructure facilities, OSCE monitors only recorded seven and three, respectively, or 6 and 15 percent of all damage. The OSCE reports did not mention the incident in Signalnoye on April 10 in which a resident was wounded.”

The OSCE Mission said that it had scaled down the monitoring due to COVID-19 restrictions, but in that case the DPR does not understand the OSCE’s close attention to the restrictions set by the Donbass Republics at the crossing points.

The Mission also decreased the surveillance of the situation during repairs in the DPR territory two-fold. Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Yasar Halit Cevik said on April 20 that the Mission might revise safety requirements for its personnel if they were exposed to risks during assignments in the areas of key infrastructure facilities or repairs.

“We regard it as a negative signal, given the already effective OSCE safety procedures for OSCE SMM patrols which considerably reduce the monitors’ activity,” the DPR Office said. It urged the OSCE to focus its attention and activity on the key tasks and principles of operation, and the Special Monitoring Mission to step up monitoring, recording, and publication for the international community on the aftermath of Ukraine’s armed aggression against Donbass.

Earlier on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after a video conference with his Normandy Four counterparts that Moscow rejected the OSCE attempts to politicise the coronavirus topic in Donbass.*jk