OSCE’s Zannier Discusses Security Challenges in Ukraine

“What surprised all of us, including the Ukrainians, was Crimea,” said Lamberto Zannier, secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Zannier visited Columbia on September 25 to give a talk entitled “Ukraine between East and West.” Professor Alexander Cooley, deputy director of the sponsoring Harriman Institute, served as moderator.

Speaking about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Zannier shared his personal experiences working with the OSCE and dealing with the current situation in eastern Ukraine and the “atypical crisis” of Crimea.

The OSCE pursues a comprehensive approach to security issues and counts the United States, Ukraine, and Russia among its 57 participating states. Zannier said the European Union quickly realized it could not mediate in the ongoing conflict because it was one of the central actors. With the OSCE, all parties can gather around the table for discussions with the current Swiss chairmanship playing a helpful role.

The group is now working on a political process with a contact group in Vienna. Zannier noted that the current confrontational atmosphere and unwillingness to talk between Russia and Ukraine is something he has not seen since the Cold War.

At the moment, the OSCE has a monitoring operation in ten locations across Ukraine, with only two locations in eastern Ukraine in the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk. Both cities have been hit by fighting in the current conflict.

Zannier said eastern Ukraine is “a very difficult environment for us to operate in.” A group of OSCE observers was kidnapped and held captive by pro-Russian separatists for over a week before being released in May.

“We are basically running a peace keeping situation with civilians,” Zannier said.

The OSCE opened a mission in Russia and currently is monitoring two sites on the Russian side of the border. However, Zannier noted that the OSCE has a limited mandate and cannot see what is happening in other areas along the border. Conditions are too dangerous on the Ukrainian side of the border of the OSCE to monitor there. In order to supplement its monitoring activities, Zannier said the OSCE will soon be using unarmed drones.

After the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea in March, Zannier is especially concerned about the way the Crimean Tatar community is now being treated. The OSCE has no monitors in Crimea and Zannier emphasized the need to have monitors there.

“How do you prevent private fighters from appearing wherever?” Zannier asked, soliciting the audience for suggestions.

Zannier, a career diplomat from Italy, became the secretary of general of the OSCE in 2011. He has previously worked on Ukraine and Russia issues and noted that the sense of separatism in Ukraine was not something that was there in past. He noted that reconciliation would be one of the biggest challenges facing Ukraine in the future.