VIENNA, Feb 10: Russia is not interested in resuming the format of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to Ukraine, real negotiations on a Ukrainian settlement are taking place outside the organization’s platform, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s new permanent representative to the OSCE, said in an interview with Sputnik.
According to the diplomat, upon his arrival in Vienna, he has already held a series of meetings with representatives of other delegations. As Polyanskiy noted, many colleagues are not rejecting dialogue, but, out of inertia, they say that military action must first cease, and only then will the OSCE be able to realize its potential – in observation, monitoring, disengagement (separation of parties to the conflict), and verification.
“Basically, everything the SMM was doing. As I understand it, some remnants of that mission remain somewhere, and people probably haven’t forgotten what it was like. And, apparently, many see this resource as the contribution the Organization can make. We don’t need a repeat of the SMM format. Real settlements and negotiations are currently taking place in other formats,” Polyanskiy said.
Polyanskiy was appointed Russia’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE in Vienna by decree of the Russian President on December 29, 2025. He succeeded Alexander Lukashevich and assumed his duties in early 2026. Previously, Polyanskiy served as Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York.
(UNI)
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