Ukraine crisis exposes system problems in European security

The Ukrainian crisis has exposed system-related problems in the architecture of Euro-Atlantic security, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for European Cooperation, Ivan Soltanovsky, told TASS on Saturday.

"There is a feeling that different ‘color revolutions’ and other projects to replace legitimate regimes are aimed at triggering chaos and instability," Soltanovsky said in an interview timed to the signing of the Helsinki Final Act 40 years ago.
"Now, Ukraine has fallen a victim to such logic," he added. The diplomat said "the Ukrainian crisis has exposed system-related shortages in the architecture of the Euro-Atlantic security, which was not brought in compliance with the possibilities that opened after an epoch of confrontation of the second part of the 20th century had come to an end," he said.
Russian diplomat: OSCE monitoring mission reports often one-sided

Reports of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine are often one-sided, as it first of all monitors militias, Ivan Soltanovsky told.

"The SMM daily issues reports on the situation in Donbass and Ukraine. Unfortunately, these reports are often one-sided, to which we have repeatedly drawn attention," Soltanovsky said in an interview timed to the day when the Helsinki Final Act was signed 40 years ago.

"Too close attention is paid to militias, and at the same time there is much less information about what is going on west of the line of contact," he explained.
Soltanovsky reminded the interlocutor that the mission’s mandate included the whole territory of Ukraine, noting that this is why "it is very important to also watch how human rights and interests of national minorities are observed in Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov, Lvov, Ivano-Frankovsk, Chernovtsy and other regions of Ukraine".

At the same time, the diplomat highlighted the role of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. He said OSCE representatives also worked within the framework of the Contact Group and its four subgroups.

"Besides, a group of OSCE observers is deployed at border crossing checkpoints Donetsk and Gukovo on the Russian-Ukrainian border in the Rostov region," he continued.

"We are satisfied on the whole with its activity, observers are objectively fixing and reporting on the situation with travels across the border," the diplomat said.