Russia assessed the prospects for OSCE participation in the peacekeeping mission in Ukraine

Russia is skeptical about the involvement of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the event of a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview with Izvestia.

"Even the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, which was deployed there, could not cope with the tasks. In fact, it was used by NATO to gain unilateral advantages for the Kyiv regime. Now it has become known that some employees of this mission, who were supposed to be neutral, actually worked in the interests of Kyiv. And it's no secret that many residents of Donbass said: "OSCE observers have passed — wait for the shelling." Therefore, we are extremely skeptical about the involvement of the OSCE, even theoretically," he said.

The diplomat also added that the OSCE does not have an armed potential, the organization does not have an "armed hand", unlike the UN. In particular, there are no competencies, a staff committee, or structures that could manage such contingents.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron took the initiative to send a peacekeeping contingent of the European Union (EU) to Ukraine. On February 26, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that Russia was not considering any options for deploying European peacekeepers on Ukrainian territory.