Russia maintains forces in Georgia and de facto authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, - stated US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the 28th OSCE Ministerial in Stockholm.

"Russia unfortunately continues to violate the Helsinki Principles and repeatedly obstructs the work of this organization. It’s responsible for the perils confronted every day by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

The seizure by force of Crimea has brought relentless abuses against Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians, and others who peacefully oppose this occupation.

And as I said yesterday at the NATO foreign ministers meeting, we are deeply concerned by evidence that Russia has made plans for further significant aggression against Ukraine, and so we call on Russia to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity to de-escalate, reverse the recent troop buildup, return forces to normal peaceful positions, and to implement the Minsk commitments, especially the ceasefire provisions and those allowing OSCE monitors unfettered access.

Diplomacy is the only responsible way to resolve this crisis, and we stand fully ready to support it. Sergey was talking about implementing Minsk. We fully agree. But let’s also base that on the facts. There are a series of commitments that both parties made under Minsk with the OSCE involved as well: ceasefire unimplemented by Russia, withdrawal of all heavy weapons unimplemented by Russia, allowing OSCE monitoring unimplemented by Russia, pass special status law implemented by Ukraine, pass amnesty law in progress, all-for-all political prisoner exchange unimplemented by Russia, ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance based on an international mechanism unimplemented by Russia, restoration of socioeconomic ties unimplemented by Russia. I could go on. I think you get the point. It takes two to tango, and if – if our Russian friends are prepared to implement their commitments under Minsk and our Ukrainian friends are as well, we will fully support that, and that is the best way to avert a renewed crisis in Ukraine.

Additionally, we’ve seen a flouting of conventional arms control commitments in Europe. Russia maintains forces in Georgia and de facto authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia", - stated Blinken.

source: IPN