The Foreign Ministry explained why they do not consider Russia's letter to the OSCE in response to its request for troops
![The Foreign Ministry explained why they do not consider Russia's letter to the OSCE in response to its request for troops](/pub/cdn/1630596310_ОБСЄ.jpg)
Ukraine does not consider the letter sent by Russia to the OSCE after the deadline to respond to its request for a risk reduction mechanism - on formal grounds and due to the lack of a substantive response.
This was stated at a briefing by Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko, according to "European Truth".
On February 13, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine had not received a response from Russia and was therefore convening an OSCE meeting.
It was later reported that Russia had allegedly sent a reply.
Oleg Nikolenko confirmed that Ukraine had not received a reply within the 48 hours provided for in the Vienna Document, and noted that Russia's letter, which it had circulated to the OSCE a few hours after the deadline, could not be considered a reply.
Read also: Moscow has 48 hours: Ukraine demands from Russia explanations of military activity at the border
"First, it does not contain any information requested by the Ukrainian side. Instead, Russia tried to make baseless accusations against Ukraine. Second, Russia marked the report as irrelevant to the Vienna Document procedure… That is why Dmytro Kuleba decided to send a formal request for the application of the next element of the mechanism - a separate meeting of the OSCE to discuss the strengthening and relocation of Russian troops", - the spokesman said.
According to him, the meeting should take place within 48 hours of the request, probably on Tuesday, February 15.
Oleg Nikolenko added that on February 14, at the initiative of Lithuania and with the support of Latvia and Estonia, the OSCE will hold consultations within the framework of the Vienna Document on the situation in Belarus - through Russian-Belarusian exercises.
"Ukraine will present its vision of the threats posed by these exercises and Russia's overall activities in Belarus. The simultaneous convening of a meeting on Russia and its partners on Belarus is part of Ukraine's diplomatic deterrence strategy", - he said.
What is known
- The Vienna Document is an international agreement of the member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is designed to implement confidence and security measures in the region. It provides for the annual exchange of military information on forces located in the territories of the participating countries, military communications to reduce risk and advice on unusual military activities.
- On January 25, Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov said there was no reason to expect a full-scale open invasion by Russia today, as it had not formed a strike force that could carry it out.
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