The Permanent Mission of Russia to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) expressed concern about the lack of statements from the organization about the shelling of Belgorod by Ukrainian troops. According to the Russian mission, OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid thus “openly took the side” of Kyiv.

The day before, the OSCE Secretary General and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malta, the country chairing the organization in 2024, Jan Borg, issued a joint statement in which they expressed regret over the deaths of civilians in Ukraine, but did not mention the situation in Belgorod.

According to the Russian permanent mission, on December 30, 2023, as a result of a rocket attack in the center of Belgorod, 25 people were killed, including 5 children, and 108 people were injured. It is noted that the shelling continued after the New Year - on January 2, one person was killed and 11 were injured.

On the other hand, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that as a result of the shelling of Ukrainian territory, 4 people were killed and another 92 were injured. Ukrainian authorities claimed that Russian strikes killed 39 people and injured more than 150.

The Russian mission argues that such ignoring of the situation in Belgorod by the OSCE demonstrates a one-sided approach and a violation of the principles of neutrality of the organization. A commentary by the Russian permanent mission on Telegram indicates that “Malta and the OSCE secretariat continue their course towards the forced collapse of the Organization’s platform, trampling on their mandates.”