foreign ministers from around 50 osce countries attended a two-day meeting in basel, switzerland.he ongoing conflict in ukraine was high on the agenda. >> the russian foreign minister slams the west for blaming russia for the crisis in eastern ukraine. tensions in the region remain high, despite thursday's agreement on a cease-fire, which is due to begin next week. >> our correspondent has been covering the osce for more than a decade. we asked him if it was true that the conference and basil did not provide any breakthrough between the west and russia. >> there was no consensus among members of state street. 57 of them to issue a joint declaration on crane -- ukraine, which they wanted to do. that is not stop to speaker from criticizing the actions of ru ssia. it is a platform for russia to defend its actions. we just heard the u.s. ambassador talk about destructive and illegal actions by russia. what we see here is the osce struggling to come up with answers when one of its members, in this case russia, doesn't play by the rules. >> the international criminal court in the hague

the ukraine crisis has taken center stage in a meeting of top diplomats from osce nations after u.s. president barack obama said moscow was unlikely to shift its dance until sanctions began inflicting more pain on the country. >> moscow shot back immediately with president vladimir putin saying the united dates was leading the world into a new arms race. >> at the conference, the german foreign minister urged restraint and called for new lines of communication to be opened up. >> for now, a handshake on arrival is likely to be the closest the u.s. secretary of state will come to agreeing with his russian counterpart. the countries' positions on the ukraine conflict appear in irreconcilable. >> thank you very much. >> russia continues to supply new weapons and increase support for armed separatists. in doing so, it fails to meet its international and osce obligations, and to live up to an agreement that it actually negotiated and signed. >> it is a tense atmosphere wasn blaming each other for the crisis. the russian foreign minister grumbled that nato and the eu had no monopoly on the

. >> getting the parties back -- russia, ukraine, pro-russian separatists as well as the osce. getting them back to the table has been a little bit like pulling teeth. the minsk ceasefire, in name only back in september it was the prelude to continued war killing and bloodletting through the east. the disconnect between what is going to be going on today in minsk with the parties trying to address vital issues and what has been happening on the ground could not be more stark. that said, in the past 2 weeks since december 9 there has been in place, the russian and ukrainian president have agreed on a sound regime -- a silent regime. an abating in fighting. an drop in intensity of fighting. it could not have gotten much worse. 4700 people have died in this conflict since it broke out last april. here's a startling number from the u.n. of those 4700, 1300, more than that, have died since the cease-fire was signed. why you saw a lot of reports saying it is a joke of a cease-fire, it is a mockery. coming into talks today with a lot of divergent positions. they want to talk about wit

is the joint group for any collective that is under a collective bargaining agreement and we at the osc w, wholeheartedly, support charlie pappas in the divinty tree and i asked that the rest of the group please stand up for mr. pappas. and i would like to add that you have three members of the legal cannabis task force, and two i must say who were my dear friends have always been in most cases opposed to anything. when it came to legal cannabis and they are here to support charlie and. and i also want to say if you take a look at it on the yelp page and that really gives a clear testament on what the patient is experiencing, and you will see that it overwhelmingly it was supportive as far as charlie's vet program. and his compassion program, and the way that he worked in the community as a good citizen. and again, it is our request that this body that you reinstate charlie and the permit. and we thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please? >> good evening my name is (inaudible) and i have come about to know mr. pappas for a few months. and i personally have been cancer survivor for 4

of the mincic agreement to removal of all fighters, the rest ration of the border monitored by the osce and the release of all prids anywheres. russia has not done any of those things. to the contrary as we've said as recently as last week secretary kerry pointed out that since september 5th, since the signature of minsk agreements hundreds of russian tanks and heavy military equipment items have moved into ukrainian territory. and we know that russian troops have remained in don bast providing command and control to the separatist forces. so i think i would understand those conditions are connected to the sanctions which were imposed in response to developments in done bass as we've made clear from the beginning we're not pursuing sanctions for sanctions sake. pursue a change but also in response to specific actions and those actions have to be reversed. > thank you. ambassador thank you for your tireless efforts you and the embassy are making. my question has to do with the response to the putin regime's disinformation war. and specifically the words putin has used in various speeches