WASHINGTON, 18 Sep. The United States deeply regrets Russia's refusal to extend the mandate of the OSCE observer mission at the Russian-Ukrainian border, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Friday. Russia sees no reason to extend the mandate of the OSCE observer group at the Gukovo and Donetsk checkpoints on border with Ukraine after September 30, said earlier Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the organization Alexander Lukashevich. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the initial gesture of Russia's goodwill remained unanswered by Kiev and the West, and the continuation of the activities of observers is inappropriate.
«The United States deeply regrets the decision of the Russian Federation to block the consensus on the extension of the OSCE observer mission at the Russian checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk, which the OSCE Chairman-in-Office announced in Vienna the day before,» Price said in a statement released by the US State Department.
It notes that after these events, Washington is «deeply concerned» about Moscow's further intentions in terms of its compliance with international obligations and constructive interaction with Ukraine.
The LPR accused Ukraine of interfering with OSCE drones «We continue to call on Russia to allow the extension of the mandate of the border monitoring mission, as well as to stop the ongoing aggression against Ukraine and contribute to a peaceful settlement of the conflict,» added a spokesman for the American diplomatic service. Relations between Moscow and Kiev deteriorated by the background of the situation in Donbass after the coup in Ukraine in February 2014. The Ukrainian authorities have previously repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in the country's internal affairs. In January 2015, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a statement in which the Russian Federation is called an «aggressor country». Russia denies the accusations of the Ukrainian side and calls them unacceptable. Moscow has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the internal Ukrainian conflict and is interested in Kiev overcoming the political and economic crisis. In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed LPR and DPR, which declared independence after the coup d'etat in Ukraine in February 2014. of the year. According to the latest UN data, about 13 thousand people became victims of the conflict. The issue of resolving the situation in Donbass is being discussed, in particular, during the meetings of the Minsk contact group, which since September 2014 has already adopted three documents regulating steps to de-escalate the conflict. However, even after the armistice agreements between the parties to the conflict, shootings continue.