Russian Foreign Ministry: OSCE car incident in Donbass is provocation (VIDEO)

Russian Foreign Ministry has described Sunday’s deadly incident with an OSCE SMM (Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine) car as a provocation.

"The circumstances of the incident indicate a high probability of a provocation geared at breaking down the settlement process in Donbass. Obviously, such incidents and the general escalation of tensions are in the interests of those who are reluctant to implement political, economic and humanitarian provisions of the Minsk Package of Measures," TASS cited the ministry as saying.

Russia's Foreign Ministry called on the parties to the conflict to embark on a direct dialogue that is to result in the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

A patrol car of the OSCE SMM drove into a mine near the village of Prishib in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR). The mission said one monitor had been killed and two more had been wounded. OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Sebastian Kurz said in a conversation with the Chief Monitor of the OSCE SMM to Ukraine Ertugul Apakan that the incident needs a thorough investigation.

According to the LPR’s militias, the patrol car deviated from its route. The LPR Ministry of State Security said a Ukrainian subversive group was behind the incident.