Ukrainian MFA's comment on direct involvement of Russia in kidnapping of members of the OSCE Special monitoring mission

MFA of Ukraine confirms once again the direct participation of the Russian Federation in organizing and supporting terrorist activities in the eastern regions of Ukraine.

An undeniable proof of this has become telephone calls of the ataman of the Great Host of Don Cossacks Nikolai Kozitsyn, made public by the Security Service of Ukraine, that establish a direct link of the so-called Russian Cossack structures coordinated from Moscow with weapons supply to terrorist organizations operating in the East of Ukraine, as well as with the kidnapping of members of the OSCE Special monitoring mission on May 29, 2014. 

We demand from the coordinators at “bielokamennaya" immediately give the order to his gangs to release the hostages, including the OSCE monitors, who enjoy privileges and immunities under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, and to end terror against the Ukrainian citizens in the eastern regions of Ukraine. 

We call on the international community to condemn the actions of the leadership of the Russian Federation aimed at continued destabilization of the situation in the eastern regions of Ukraine. We also call on the international community to force the Russian side to stop exporting and organizing terrorist activities in Ukraine that threaten the entire civilized world.