VIENNA — The world’s largest security body
on Monday held an extraordinary meeting of permanent representatives to find
ways to deescalate the situation in
Ukraine with its secretary general calling
for “dialogue”.
اضافة اعلان
Ukraine had requested the meeting of the
OSCE’s
Permanent Council amid a sharp escalation in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
“Will brief states about our efforts and potential
way forward. Need dialogue channels open,” the organization’s secretary
general, Helga Schmid, tweeted ahead of the meeting.
OSCE monitors have reported hundreds of artillery
and mortar attacks in recent days in eastern Ukraine, in a conflict that has
simmered since 2014 and claimed more than 14,000 lives.
The ceasefire violations come as the
United States accuses Russia of planning to invade Ukraine after what Washington says is a
force build-up of some 150,000 troops on its ex-Soviet neighbor’s borders.
Russia has denied any such plans.
Michael
Carpenter, the US ambassador to the OSCE, in the closed-door session urged
Russia “to stop its dangerous provocations”.
“Let us return to the negotiating table before any
more lives are lost,” he said, according to his statement sent to media.
The
Vienna-based Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has 57 members including Russia, Ukraine and the US.
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