MOSCOW, June 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has floated the idea of creating a contact group on Ukraine crisis within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), according to a senior Russian lawmaker.
“We’re offering the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to set up an interparliamentary contact group that would discuss ways out of the Ukrainian crisis,” Alexei Pushkov said at a press conference in Moscow.
Pushkov, who chairs a Foreign Affairs Committee in the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament), said that a solution to the conflict in Ukraine should be a global concern.
Tensions around Ukraine and its deadly military operation in the east escalated Wednesday following the death of a Russian TV journalist and a member of his crew in a mortar attack on the restive city of Luhansk in the country’s southeast.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier in the day the recent journalist killings were yet another signal it was time for a ceasefire and a dialogue between the warring parties.
On Tuesday, the Russian top foreign official accused Kiev of completely ignoring the roadmap proposed by the OSCE. He called on the West to pressure the Ukrainian authorities into resolving the situation in the country.
