Mr. Chairman,

I would like to thank all distinguished speakers for their comprehensive presentations outlining the OSCE engagement with Ukraine. Enhancement and expansion of this engagement results from specific requests of the Government of my country faced with the illegal acts of aggression and subversion pursued by the Russian Federation towards Ukraine in breach of international law and the core OSCE principles and commitments.

Despite the meaningful international efforts to peacefully resolve the crisis, the Russian Federation continues to fail to comply with its international obligations and OSCE commitments.

The situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea continues to deteriorate, leading to grave violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Moreover, the situation in the Southern and Eastern regions of Ukraine has become more precarious due to interference from beyond the country, thus raising the relevance of using all appropriate measures to avoid violence, de-escalate tensions and stabilize the situation.

Distinguished colleagues,

Ukraine commends the Chairmanship’s dedicated efforts to strengthen the OSCE engagement in Ukraine in order to assist my country in addressing security concerns and provide the OSCE participating States with objective and reliable information on the ground.

We welcome the activities by an OSCE Special Monitoring Mission of international observers to Ukraine, which is being deployed now in Ukraine under the Permanent Council decision of 21 March 2014. We regard this mission as an appropriate tool to collect information on the ground, report on the security situation, promote dialogue and reduce tensions.

I would like to stress that the agreed mandate of the Mission encompasses the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. We welcome the appointment of the Chief Monitor and are ready to assist him in accomplishing his work.

We appreciate the important work carried out by the ODIHR and HCNM Human Rights Assessment Mission, upon the invitation of the Government of Ukraine, and look forward to their report. We are confident that the Mission, which was designed to assess the human rights situation on the ground, including minority rights, against the background of the recent developments in Ukraine, will provide an objective assessment of the situation, as well as the information about the state of implementation by OSCE participating States - those involved in the current crisis situation - of their international commitments.

The Ukrainian Government welcomes the deployment of ODIHR’s Long-Term Election observers and would like to assure that the Ukrainian authorities will make every effort to promote the conditions for a campaign environment that respects relevant OSCE election-related commitments, drawing on ODIHR’s recommendations following their observation of elections in 2010 and 2012.

We supported the launch of the extra-budgetary project on National Dialogue in Ukraine being implemented within the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine. We deem it as another important tool of the OSCE assistance in de-escalating the current situation, fostering social cohesion and dialogue in Ukraine.

Dear colleagues,

Ukraine highly appreciates the strong stance that the OSCE has taken regarding the crisis around Ukraine and its resolution through diplomatic means with full respect to the OSCE founding principles and commitments in particular the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

I would like to assure that the respective missions may rely on the necessary  assistance of the Ukrainian Government in fulfilling their mandates.

It remains crucial for all OSCE observer missions, as well as the heads of Institutions to have access to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in order to provide transparent and unbiased reporting on the human, economic, and security situation in the region. In this regard we urge the Russian Federation, which illegally occupied Crimea, to facilitate the access of the international monitors to assess the situation on the ground.

We also call upon all relevant OSCE structures to coordinate with other international actors in Ukraine and use all available tools and procedures to assist our country at this critical moment and achieve security in the region.

Thank you, Mr.Chaiman.