OSCE Monitoring Mission threatened by Russian blockage

The U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to the OSCE Courtney Austrian
urged Russia on May 27 to resume extending the OSCE observer mission along the
line of contact in Donbas. Speaking at the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna,
Austrian also asked the Russian side what they are hiding by ending the
years-long agreement. The Russians have agreed only to extend the observer
mission through the end of July, i.e., for two months. Quarterly extensions
have been “standard” until now.

The transcript of Austrian’s remarks shows that she
further brought up Crimean Tatar issues and reaffirmed American support for
Ukraine’s “sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity”.

James Hydzik: The Russian
move to essentially end the OSCE observer mission, “already significantly boxed
in by Russia”, as Austrian put it, seems serious. Though much maligned, the
mission is an official, internationally recognized diplomatic platform, the
loss of which not only deprives Ukraine of other sets of eyes on the ground,
but lowers the public visibility of the war on a daily basis.

Whether Russia is using the refusal as a card to raise
the ante against the Americans, who are withdrawing from the Open Skies treaty,
or to foment instability along Ukraine’s border, or for internal reasons, or
more likely, all of the above, the destabilization along the border is real.