Hug: negotiators in Minsk turned a blind eye to thousands of violations of the truce in the Donbas

10:31 / 04 Aug. 2016 / 804

Despite the regular meetings of the Trilateral contact group in Minsk to resolve the conflict in the Donbas, the parties never raised the issue of violations of the cease-fire. This was stated by first Deputy head of the Special monitoring mission of OSCE in Ukraine Alexander Hug in an interview with German TV channel ARD.

«Discussion of the violations of the cease-fire just isn’t happening. None of the ten thousand violations, and none of the restrictions of our freedom of movement as the observer becomes the subject of discussion,» – said the OSCE representative.

According to him, impunity becomes the impetus for further infringements.

Hug encourages the parties to put an end to that situation for which it is necessary to clearly identify where and by whom was issued any given shot. He is also concerned for the safety of members of the CMM: the number of incidents with participation of observers increases with increasing tension on the frontline, their freedom of movement restricted, it happens and attacks on patrols.

The representative of the SMM added that their right to move freely within Donbas provided not so much a mandate from the OSCE, how much in unison negotiators in Minsk.

As we have previously reported the threat of re-escalation hangs over Donetsk region.

By the materials: www.dw.com

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