Thank you, Madame Chairperson.

And thank you, Ambassador Missong, for your report on the status of discussions on the return of the Assistance Group (AG) to its office in Chechnya.

We are encouraged to hear part of what you have told us here today regarding your ongoing efforts to re-establish the AG’s presence in Chechnya. We are glad to hear that the Russian authorities are taking certain concrete steps to allow the AG to re-establish itself in the region.

But, we are also concerned about other aspects of what you have reported today, suggesting that the Russian government does not support the idea of a continuous OSCE Assistance Group presence in Chechnya. We note that a proposal that only allowed for a temporary or rotating AG presence in the Chechen Republic would be inconsistent with both the spirit and the letter of the original 1995 AG mandate and paragraph 23 of the Istanbul Summit Declaration.

It is clear that there is a great deal of work for the AG to do in Chechnya, including – but in no way limited to – humanitarian projects such as those Ambassador Missong has proposed. Such humanitarian efforts would directly benefit both the government and people of Russia. But they can not be administered and overseen from Moscow. Such efforts can only be undertaken by an Assistance Group resident in Chechnya itself.

The United States looks forward to the prompt return of a continuous OSCE Assistance Group presence on the ground in Chechnya, and welcomes any efforts by the Russian government that moves us towards that end.

Thank you, Madame Chairperson.