DPR Calls on OSCE to Pay Special Attention to Kiev’s Actions: Official

The Donetsk People's Republic urges the OSCE to examine Kiev's actions that may allegedly undermine the peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
MOSCOW, November 16 (Sputnik) — The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic is calling on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to pay close attention to the recent actions of Kiev as the Ukrainian government is moving away from the peaceful settlement of the conflict, the DPR's Supreme Council chairman said Sunday.

"At the moment we keep on insisting on the Minsk format of peace talks, but as you understand, it is becoming more and more complicated for us to communicate [with Kiev]. We now demand the close attention from OSCE to the Kiev's actions because [the situation] is really getting worse and Kiev is trying its hardest to move away from the peaceful settlement of the dispute," Denis Pushilin said on Russia's Rossiya-24 television.

On Saturday Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered to stop serving bank accounts of Donbas enterprises and residents in a month. He also ordered to evacuate all state institutions and courts from the territories subject to the Kiev authorities' "anti-terror operation" and asked the government to keep the Council of Europe informed on the violations of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights that Kiev "is forced" to commit in the region.

Commenting on these decisions on Saturday, Denis Pushilin said that the new decree poses a threat to the Minsk process of peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.

In April, Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation in the country's southeast, where independence supporters refused to recognize the new government which ceased power in Kiev following a coup in February.

On September 5, the warring sides struck a breakthrough deal in the Belarusian capital Minsk that resulted in the establishment of a ceasefire in the eastern regions of Ukraine. However, both sides have been accusing each other of violating the truce since the ceasefire agreement came into force.