Vienna, Feb 21 (AFP/APP): The world’s largest security body on Monday held an extraordinary meeting of permanent representatives to find ways to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine with its secretary general calling for “dialogue”.
Ukraine had requested the meeting of the OSCE’s Permanent Council amid a sharp escalation in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
“Will brief states about our efforts and potential way forward. Need dialogue channels open,” the organisation’s secretary general Helga Schmid tweeted ahead of the meeting.
OSCE monitors have reported hundreds of artillery and mortar attacks in recent days in eastern Ukraine, in a conflict that has simmered since 2014 and claimed more than 14,000 lives.
The ceasefire violations come as the United States accuses Russia of planning to invade Ukraine after what Washington says is a force build-up of some 150,000 troops on its ex-Soviet neighbour’s borders.
Russia has denied any such plans.
Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the OSCE, in the closed-door session urged Russia “to stop its dangerous provocations”.
“Let us return to the negotiating table before any more lives are lost,” he said, according to his statement sent to media.
The Vienna-based Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has 57 members including Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
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