BELGRADE, June 17 (RIA Novosti) — Kiev has completely refused to implement the road map elaborated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the West must influence the Ukrainian authorities to resolve the situation in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, the Ukrainian authorities are so far refusing to support the road map, so all the OSCE members must influence Kiev in order to withdraw those objections," Lavrov said.
Lavrov said Russia backed strengthening the role of the OSCE as well as its efforts aimed at settling the crisis in Ukraine.
“We support the enhancement of the OSCE’s role in its efforts in settling the Ukrainian crisis. We support the work of the special monitoring mission in Ukraine and we support the road map that was elaborated by the OSCE Chairmanship," Lavrov said.
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Didier Burkhalter presented a plan in May suggesting the international community should support the presidential election in the country and a national poll on decentralization, linked to a broad national dialogue, including round table discussions in Ukraine’s regions.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko adhered to one of the points of the roadmap, and said he would submit draft constitutional amendments on the decentralization of power to the parliament later this week.
However, the president is continuing the special military operation launched by Kiev in mid-April in the east of Ukraine to crack down on independence supporters that refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the new government.
The operation has triggered violent clashes between independence supporters and government soldiers and led to numerous casualties. Moscow, which describes the ongoing military actions as a punitive operation, has called for an immediate end to the bloodshed.
