OSCE confirms introduction of Russian currency in occupied Donbas

“OSCE Coordinator in the TCG Economic Working Group Ambassador Brandenburg confirmed during the informal briefing on 8 June the introduction of Russian currency in the occupied parts of Donbas,” Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna, said at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on 9 July 2020.

He reminded that the OSCE SMM had confirmed in its reports the decision of the occupying power in Donetsk and Luhansk to establish Russian as the only “official” language, including discontinuation of the Ukrainian language component of the school regular curricula as of September 2020.

“In the past couple of months, we have also witnessed a number of Russia’s steps aimed at further deepening divide between government-controlled and temporarily occupied parts of Donbas, which undermines future prospects of reintegration of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. The ongoing so-called ‘passportization’ and involvement of the owners of these illegal Russian passports to the voting for constitutional amendments in Russia became another major breach of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” Tsymbaliuk said.

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