Vienna: The world’s largest security body, the OSCE, will hold an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised two Ukraine breakaway regions as independent and ordered in his troops.
The meeting of the OSCE’s Permanent Council at 1400 GMT aims to “address this breach of international law and fundamental OSCE principles,” Poland, which currently holds the body’s chairmanship, said. “The decision by President Putin to recognise parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent is a clear violation of international law,” it said in a statement.
“This step is against OSCE commitments as well as Minsk agreements and undermines the organisation’s involvement in a peaceful settlement of the conflict.” The meeting is closed to the media. Western leaders have widely condemned Putin’s move late Monday to recognise the regions in eastern Ukraine.
The Vienna-based Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has 57 members including Russia, Ukraine and the United States. The body already held an extraordinary meeting of the permanent council requested by Ukraine on Monday with its secretary general Helga Schmid calling for “dialogue”.
