Due to the refusal of the Russian side to participate in the joint meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council and Forum for Security Cooperation, devoted to accumulation of the armed forces of the Russian Federation near the state border of Ukraine, we would like to state the following.

The Russian Federation occupied a part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, the Crimean Autonomous Republic, and thus treacherously violated the norms of international law and the fundamental principles of contemporary coexistence of states formalized in the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, bilateral and multilateral agreements.

On this background the accumulation of military units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation along Ukraine’s borders, causes major concern. The inspections carried out by Ukraine on the Russian territory in accordance with the Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures and the Open Skies Treaty, confirm this fact.

In this regard, Ukraine applied the mechanisms provided by Chapter III of the Vienna Document in order to find out the real intentions of the Russian Federation and the ultimate goal of ongoing military buildup, taking into account that the Russian side, disregarding the obvious facts, is permanently denying that it is carrying out unscheduled military activities near the borders with Ukraine.

Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, the Russian Federation refused to take advantage of the chance to clarify to the OSCE participating States at the joint OSCE PC and FSC meeting the real reasons of the presence of its troops near our borders.

The refusal of the Russian Federation to participate in the joint meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council and Forum for Security Cooperation is considered as unpreparedness of the Russian delegation for an open dialogue in the spirit of the Vienna Document. With its refusal the Russian side only strengthens the arguments in favor of existence of secret plans of the Russian Federation concerning the practical use of its military force against Ukraine.

The declarations of the Russian Federation of allegedly "positive" results of observation flights and inspections on its territory, which seemingly demonstrate absence of any significant unscheduled and unusual military activities nearby the border with Ukraine, are misleading the international community. It is well known that only appropriately processed and analyzed photographs can be considered as the final result of observation flights, and in no way just statement by the observing mission the fact of compliance by the receiving party with the relevant technical procedures.

The Ukrainian side responsibly declares that the materials of the two observation flights under the Treaty on Open Skies, conducted in March and April of this year, clearly demonstrate the increase in numbers of air component on the Russian airfields located nearby Ukraine.

Moreover, during the Vienna Document inspection, conducted on March 18-21, 2014 in the Belgorod and Kursk regions, the inspecting team was observing  presence on the ground of three battalions of the 76-th landing assault division and of the 106-th airborne division, not only outside their permanent deployment sites (the cities of Tula, Ryazan and Pskov), but also outside the training areas, where they were supposed to carry out planned military exercises.

That is why the Ukrainian side is quite reasonably wondering, what could be the real reason of the presence of elite units of the Russian Armed Forces in the open field near the border of Ukraine.

Instead we observe that the Russian side, cynically declaring that restrictive levels set forth by the Vienna Document are not exceeded, continues to increase its military presence in the border areas nearby Ukraine. The fact that military preparations take place against the background of adoption on the 1-st of March, 2014 by the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the Resolution "On the Use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the Territory of Ukraine” causes a special concern.

Ukraine urges the Russian Federation to strictly comply with the letter and spirit of the Vienna Document, rigorously fulfill its provisions and take all possible actions in order to dispel concerns with regard to its military activities, which are felt not only by Ukraine, but also by other nations within the OSCE area.

We believe that the issue of concluding the bilateral Agreement with the Russian Federation on Additional Confidence- and Security-Building Measures in the Border Areas, supplementing and strengthening the provisions of the Vienna Document, has become acute as never before. Such idea was repeatedly proposed by the Ukrainian Side, but was permanently rejected by Russia, which defended its position by the “brotherly” relations between our nations.

Ukraine is convinced that only through strengthening confidence, transparency and mutual respect can be resolved the most acute problems, which constitute a real threat to the European, as well as to the global security.

Departamento de Política de Informação do MRE da Ucrânia