He recalled that the Russian Federation still does not allow international observers to the Ukrainian-Russian border

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Special representative of the US State Department on Ukraine Kurt Volker commented on the video of the OSCE SMM, which shows how the columns of Russian trucks enter the territory of Ukraine. He wrote about this in his Twitter microblog.



"This is another way how Russia intentionally continues the conflict and supports military operations in the east of Ukraine, despite international efforts for settlement," he wrote.



"Here is footage from the OSCE CMM of convoys of trucks illegally entering and exiting Ukraine from Russia. As a reminder, Russia has blocked an effective border monitoring mission and its forces routinely prevent the SMM from visiting the border," Volker added.

Here is footage from @OSCE_SMM of convoys of trucks illegally entering and exiting Ukraine from Russia. As a reminder, Russia has blocked an effective border monitoring mission and its forces routinely prevent the SMM from visiting the border. https://t.co/uXC1D6qmCK — Kurt Volker (@SpecRepUkraine) August 11, 2018





Earlier it was reported that the observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission noticed columns of Russian trucks that entered Donbas in the middle of the night and moved along a road where there is no border checkpoint.

Earlier Ukraine adopted the bill on the special status of Donbas; but it doesn't work since Russia did nothing to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine. U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine's Affairs Kurt Volker said that as quoted by the Voice of America.

'I understand the disappointment of the Ukrainian lawmakers and the society. They did some necessary steps, such as passing the law on the special status and the amnesty law. Russia, on its part, did nothing to bring the conflict to an end, to withdraw the troops', the official said.

He admitted that the law was adopted, but never actually implemented.

'There's actually no special status. It won't start working until there's an agreement, until Russia withdraws troops and local elections take place', Volker added. 'I don't see any harm in renewing the bill. Nothing will change from today till the moment when it's extended. I don't think there's any harm. On the other hand, Russia will use the suspension of the law as a reason to complain about Ukraine's behavior. They'll say Ukraine doesn't want to live up by Minsk agreement. So just don't give Russia that kind of argument'.

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