Russian Deputy Ambassador Calls UN Neutral Regarding Ukraine, Criticizes Espionage Of OSCE Staff In Donbas

JAKARTA - The Russian diplomat at the permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) said the world body was not neutral regarding the situation in Ukraine, confirming allegations of espionage by staff of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation and European countries) mission.

The UN is not a neutral party in the situation surrounding Ukraine, with certain sympathies, Russia's Deputy Permanent Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyansky told the Solovyov Live television channel.

"They have a certain sympathy," he said, as reported by TASS April 19.

"It is very clear in the situation with Ukraine. We discussed this openly, also with the secretary general," continued Polyansky.

He continued, "people with Western passports and even Anglo-Saxon passports dominate at the United Nations."

"Perhaps this also affects the objectivity of the assessments that the United Nations often makes in this or that situation," he stressed.

On the same occasion, Polyansky mentioned the facts of espionage by the staff of the OSCE mission in Donbas openly.

"This is a scandal with the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, we also had the opportunity to observe and which, as I understand it, is still blazing with respect to the use of the data. Our fellow journalists dug into it all. Of course, the details are yet to be seen, but what I see, of course, blatantly," he said.

"It is even difficult to imagine an international organization, especially one with a mandate, could do this," said Polyansky.

On April 15, the Prosecutor General of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) announced that it had opened a criminal case of espionage against several employees of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission.

According to information, OSCE employees, while in the DPR, including in the areas controlled by Kiev, used video equipment to record the locations of republican People's Militia units, state bodies and institutions. The information is collected in an electronic format.

"After that the data which are state secrets are transferred to representatives of foreign intelligence services, including the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU)."

It is known that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission started work in Ukraine on 21 March 2014, following a consensus decision by the 57 participating states. The mission brought together nearly 1,000 observers. Mission offices are located in Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk.

In early March, OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid announced the evacuation of nearly 500 SMM observers from Ukraine following the start of Russian special operations.

On March 1, the DPR mission to the Joint Center for Armistice Control and Coordination reported that the mission's foreign staff had left the republic.

According to Russia's permanent representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recently been 'playing' along with Kiev officials in its reports, and monitoring is increasingly becoming a mechanism to confuse the international community about events happening on the ground.

On April 9, the DPR's territorial defense headquarters made a decision to recognize the extension of the activities of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission on the territory of the republic as unlawful. He had to stop his activities on April 30. Moreover, on April 8, it was discovered that one of the SMM observers in the republic was detained for activities "not in accordance with the mission's mandate".