Brussels, 29/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 27 July, the EU delegation to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) expressed concern about the increased violence in Eastern Ukraine.
“The EU and its member states remain deeply concerned by the volatile and unpredictable situation in eastern Ukraine. We remain disturbed by the sharp intensification of violence in Luhansk region, where the highest number of ceasefire violations since September 2015 was recorded last week (18-24 July). For the second consecutive week, intense fighting was noted mostly around the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge, constituting 90% of the total number of ceasefire violations in the region”, said the delegation at an OSCE security cooperation forum. US ambassador to the OSCE Daniel Baer told a select briefing of journalists, including from this newsletter, on 29 July that there had not been so many casualties for a year, and he said that there was a frustrating repetition of the situation on the ground and each week of conflict costs human lives.
At the forum, the EU delegation again urged “all sides to strictly adhere to the ceasefire, immediately deescalate and disengage, and unconditionally and verifiably withdraw all Minsk regulated weapons”.
“Instances of restrictions on the SMM's (OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission) freedom of movement have increased significantly in this area, almost exclusively in areas not under the control of the Ukrainian government. (…) We condemn any impediments to the SMM's work, which represent a violation of the Minsk agreements and seriously limit the SMM's monitoring ability. We underline that the SMM must have full, safe and unhindered access throughout Ukraine, including along the Ukrainian-Russian state border”.
The delegation also called again on all parties to rapidly implement the Minsk agreements in full and full honour their commitments, '”underlining Russia's responsibility in this regard”.
On another note, Italy has been elected to chair the OSCE in 2018. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Thursday 28 July that one of Italy's priorities would be finding a solution to the Ukrainian crisis. Italy's presidency will follow that of Germany in 2016 and Austria in 2017. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)