MOSCOW, November 19 (Sputnik) —The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine takes into account all the accusations concerning its work, but has no intention of responding to them as it should stay unbiased, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Andrei Kelin said Wednesday.
Earlier there was much media speculation that up to 80 percent of the mission's observers worked for Russian intelligence.
On Tuesday, commenting on the same issue, Kelin dismissed these reports as "nonsense." He reminded journalists that less than 20 of the 272 observers in Ukraine are from Russia.
"I think that the head of the mission just took these accusations into account. The point is that the mission has to stay neutral. Observers from various countries of the world are part of it and their reports should, by definition, be unbiased and objective. There should be no fabricated conclusions or ideas in these [reports]," Kelin said in an interview with Russia Today TV Channel.
The Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe was deployed in March, following a request by Ukraine's government and a consensus decision by all 57 OSCE participating states. The mission is meant to contribute to reducing tensions and fostering peace, stability and security in Ukraine and on the Russian-Ukrainian border.
