RIA Novosti: Senior Russian diplomat pleased with OSCE mission in Ukraine

(RIA Novosti – October 1, 2014) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksey Meshkov has said that the OSCE mission’s reports on the situation in Ukraine have become more objective, the Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported on 1 October.

“The mission’s work has become much more balanced, which, on the one hand, has made their reports more objective, but on the other hand, the mission feels increased pressure from forces that are not interested in its objective work,” Meshkov said.

According to the diplomat, “Ukrainian ‘hawks’, whom we collectively describe as the so-called party of war, have repeatedly put forward, and continue to do so, various complaints about the mission, accusing it of allegedly not following the line of Kiev’s propaganda 100 per cent”.

Meshkov said that “one can work with the mission; it is doing an important job, and we support it”.

Relations with NATO

Commenting on NATO’s decision in April to limit access to the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels for Russian representatives, Meshkov described it as “a political petty dirty trick”.

“Currently, the situation is the same; only a limited circle of people have access. This is also a political petty dirty trick, not an issue prompted by real fear or something else,” the diplomat said.

Asked if Russia was planning to close NATO’s Information Office in Moscow, Meshkov said: “No.”

According to the diplomat, “contacts are limited both in Brussels and Moscow, and the number of events has been reduced”.

“We reciprocate and react to the actions of our NATO colleagues in Brussels. There should be no surprise if we take some steps. We always respond in this situation, rather than take proactive steps,” Meshkov said.

Relations with EU

The European Union had put on hold negotiations on easing the visa regime with Russia long before the Ukrainian events, Meshkov said.

“In fact, our European partners put this topic on hold long before the Ukrainian events. Everything had been ready for a long time, but we received quite open hints that until countries in the so-called Eastern Partnership introduce a visa-free regime, it would be impossible for Russia to hope for same,” he said.

According to Meshkov, “all the time more and more pretexts were invented to delay the launch of real negotiations”. “As you remember, a programme of joint steps towards visa-free travel was drawn up and we fully implemented it. So the decision to freeze [talks on] visa-free travel was purely political, because there was nothing to talk about,” the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.