OSCE Secretary General and Italian Deputy FM visit Kyiv

OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger and Italian
Deputy Foreign Minister Guglielmo Picchi were in Kyiv on Thursday, July 26. The
two met with Ukrainian Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs Vasyl Bodnar and
Olena Zerkal, with whom they spoke about Ukraine’s support for the OSCE Special
Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Donbas. Picchi in particular reiterated Italy’s
support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and that with Italy as OSCE Chair
at this time, the country is ready to “further promote the implementation of
the Minsk Agreements”. Secretary General Germinger is slated to hold a press
conference in Kramatorsk today.

James Hydzik: OSCE is generally viewed as a compromised organization in Ukraine,
especially given recent allegations of spying and information theft committed by
its Russian representatives. Moreover, Picchi’s boss, Italian Minister for
Foreign Affairs Enzo Moavero Milanesi, had to walk back comments supporting the
Russian claim to Crimea by reaffirming Italy’s support for Ukrainian
sovereignty and territorial integrity in the Italian Parliament on Wednesday
July 25. However, OSCE is the only organization at this time which can provide
some sort of third-party presence at this level in the conflict, we see the
organization’s support as vital at this time. In particular, Secretary General
Germinger’s visit to Donetsk Oblast is important to keeping Europe’s
governments aware of the situation.