Zakharova called the OSCE special envoy's plan an attempt to deepen Europe's division

The OSCE special representative for Ukraine, Petr Maresh, intends to deepen the split in Europe by announcing plans to prepare Kiev for membership in the European Union (EU) and NATO. This was reported by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on December 12.

Earlier in the day, Maresh himself told Izvestia that he intends to supervise more than 20 projects adopted in circumvention of Russia, as well as to prepare Kiev for EU and NATO membership.

According to Zakharova, the OSCE, without taking into account the opinion of Russia and Belarus, appointed a special person who is engaged not in harmonizing the relations of the countries - members of the organization, but in deepening the split in the European space and playing in favor of militaristic structures, which does not include half of the OSCE member states.

"Let me remind you that in the OSCE acronym, the letters B and C stand for 'security' and 'cooperation'. So where are they?" - Zakharova wrote in her Telegram channel.

Blocks of discord: the OSCE will start preparing Kyiv for EU and NATO accession

The appointment of a Czech diplomat to the post of Special Representative of the Chairmanship took place without Russia's consent

Earlier, on December 11, Kherson Region Governor Volodymyr Saldo said that the Russian Federation cannot allow the presence of the NATO contingent in Ukraine even after the special operation is over. He pointed to a change in the rhetoric of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term in office expired on May 20), who now admits that the country will not join the North Atlantic Alliance until the conflict ends and instead demands the transfer of Western troops to Ukraine.

On December 5, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that in the current situation, the FRG would not send its troops to Ukraine. In its turn, Poland also ruled out the transfer of military forces to Ukraine.

At the same time, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said in December that the German peacekeeping contingent could be sent to Ukraine after the conflict is over. In addition, Politico reported the same month that French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss the deployment of peacekeeping forces to Ukraine with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk during their meeting in Warsaw on Thursday, December 12. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that sending a peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine would be perceived by Russia as participation of third countries in the conflict.

Ukraine applied to join NATO on an accelerated basis on September 30, 2022. At the time, Zelensky said that in fact the country is already in the alliance and meets its standards. The country applied for EU membership on February 28, 2022.