Statement of the Ambassador Mikko Kinnunen OSCE TGC

Ukraine OSCE

Rome [ENA] Ambassador Mikko Kinnunen has been apponted as the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group on 1 August. The Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), formed in 2014, is a permanent consultation process with an aim to facilitate implementation of the Minsk agreements and to support finding a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

The Trilateral Contact Group has four Working Groups focusing on security, political affairs, economic affairs and humanitarian issues. Mikko Kinnunen has been Political Director (Director General for Political Affairs) in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. He joined the Foreign Ministry in 1996 and has worked, among other things, as Director of the Unit for Security Policy and as Finland’s first Ambassador for Countering Hybrid Threats. In 2009–2013, Kinnunen served as Finland's Ambassador in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. He has also worked in the Embassies in Moscow and Washington DC and at the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations in New York.

On 15th September Ambassador Mikko Kinnunen, made the following statement to the press after the regular meetings of the TCG ‎and its Working Groups held through video conferencing: “The security situation along the contact line remains volatile with an average of 273 cease-fire violations per day reported by OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) during the first two weeks of September 2021, an increase of about 30% compared to the month of August. I particularly deplore the rising number of civilian casualties, namely 11 in the month of August, the highest number of monthly civilian casualties since the entering into force of the July 2020 agreement on strengthening the ceasefire. The participants in the Security Working Group

working on the draft Addendum to agreement on strengthening ceasefire, however, disagreements over the nature of the possible new coordination and verification mechanism remained. The Political Working Group discussed issues related to the elaboration of a draft action plan in full compliance with the Minsk agreements. Participants in the Economic Working Group engaged in a detailed discussion on different aspects of water supply to certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine (CADLO). They also dealt with ecological issues, discussed pension payments and questions related to telecommunication. I was particularly pleased to hear about the successful first session of the expert group on ecological hazards related to flooded

mines near the contact line. For the second time, the meeting of the Humanitarian Working Group could not take place as the controversy over a recent expert appointment was not yet solved. The issues of vital importance to population on both sides of contact line, such as the opening of new crossing points and the mutual exchange of conflict-related detainees could not be discussed. I emphasize the need to a seek swift way out of this impasse ahead of the next scheduled meeting of the Working Group.”