Head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha held a meeting with a delegation of Permanent Representatives of 23 OSCE participating States, who are visiting Ukraine on a solidarity visit from 20 to 23 July.
During the meeting with foreign representatives, Andrii Sybiha once again emphasized the urgency of releasing Vadym Golda, Maksym Petrov, and Dmytro Shabanov — Ukrainian OSCE Special Monitoring Mission employees who were taken hostage by the Russian Federation in 2022 and continue to be unlawfully detained.
«For me, it is especially important that one of the meetings in the three-day program of the delegation from Vienna will be with the families of our three guys. Their release is a matter of honor for the OSCE,» — he said .
Head of the MFA stressed that the mistakes made within the OSCE in the past must be honestly analysed today so that they are not repeated tomorrow.
«This is how real security partnership and trust work. It is critical to maximize the use of all OSCE mechanisms that the Russian Federation cannot block today. These are important human rights levers. However, the potential of the Organization is much greater. Efficiency demands ambition,» — he emphasized.
Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mariana Betsa also took part in the meeting. She highlighted the importance of using the OSCE's human rights mechanisms aimed at documenting the Russian Federation's violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Ukraine.
«The work of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism missions of independent experts, as well as ODIHR reports, is clear confirmation of the OSCE's ability to respond effectively to Russian aggression, as well as to facilitate the recording and documentation of the large-scale and systematic crimes committed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine,» — Mariana Betsa emphasized.
In turn, the Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the OSCE, Ambassador Raphael Nägeli, speaking on behalf of the Swiss OSCE Chairpersonship and all members of the delegation, stressed that the OSCE remains an important platform for supporting Ukraine and will continue to use all available mechanisms to respond to the common challenges caused by Russia's war.
Andrii Sybiha thanked the Swiss OSCE Chairpersonship for organizing the solidarity visit, expressing his gratitude to his colleague Ignazio Cassis, the Swiss Ambassadors to the OSCE and to Ukraine, as well as to the foreign Ambassadors and Deputy Heads of Delegation to the OSCE.
«The delegation of Ambassadors arrived in Kyiv against the backdrop of increased Russian terror to express solidarity and state clearly: the OSCE is not a neutral observer, because security is never neutral,» — the diplomat noted.
Ambassadors and Deputy Heads of Delegation of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom took part in the meeting.
The visit was jointly organized by the Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE and the Special Representative of the Chairmanship-in-Office — OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, in coordination with the Permanent Mission of Ukraine in Vienna.