February 12, 2015

US at OSCE: on disregard for human decency

More

GENEVA – On January 29, at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Daniel Baer stated, “We are appalled by recent reports that the Russia-backed separatists have beaten, tortured and subsequently publicly paraded Ukrainian security forces captured at the Donetsk airport. The detainees were forcibly dragged to the site of the trolleybus bombing in Donetsk, where they were forced to ask the public for ‘forgiveness.’ The separatists took pictures of the captured soldiers and posted them all over the Internet. We condemn these actions. They are further examples of the Russia-backed separatists’ blatant disregard for human decency, as well as the commitments they made in Minsk. …Since December, Russia has transferred hundreds of pieces of military equipment to Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, including tanks, armored vehicles, rocket systems, heavy artillery and other military equipment. In mid-to-late January, Russia deployed into eastern Ukraine advanced surface-to-air missile and antiaircraft systems, marking the highest level of Russian air defense presence in eastern Ukraine since September 2014. …As a result of Russia’s actions, the separatists now have a fighting force that includes hundreds of tanks, armored vehicles, heavy artillery pieces, and other military vehicles, and they are using this assistance from Russia to attack not only the Ukrainian forces, but innocent civilians. …We again renew our call to Russia to end its support for the separatists immediately, allow effective OSCE monitoring of the Ukraine-Russia border, return control of Ukraine’s side of that border to Ukraine’s government, withdraw all weapons, fighters and financial backing from the separatists, release all hostages, and bring the occupation of Crimea to an end. Otherwise, U.S. and international pressure on Russia and the separatists will only increase.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)

Comments are closed.