Kyiv responsible for security of OSCE monitors - Russian UN envoy
NEW YORK. May 29 (Interfax) - The Kyiv authorities bear the most responsibility for the security of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitors working in Ukraine, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has said.
"We should pay attention to the fact that the Ukrainian side, which is receiving this mission, bears the most responsibility for the monitors' security," Churkin said at a UN Security Council meeting.
"However, Kyiv has so far failed to finalize the interstate procedures for ratifying the Memorandum of Mutual Understanding with the OSCE, a document which guarantees the immunity of this international mission's staff," he said.
"Uncertainty surrounding the status of the OSCE monitors, who have been working in Ukraine for more than two months, poses a direct threat to their security," the Russian envoy said.
Moscow is seriously troubled by the detention of two groups of OSCE monitors in Ukraine, Churkin said, adding that one of these groups includes a Russian citizen.
"We are taking measures to find and release the monitors who remain in detention as far as our possibilities permit," he said.
