Contents tagged with OSCE

  • Klimkin: If Russia does not remove heavy weapons, they could potentially have their own bases in the Donbas

    Heavy weapons of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbas should be returned to the Russian Federation, and should not be stored on site during the local elections. If not, Russia could potentially then have their own military bases in the area as per the OSCE mandate. This was stated by the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pavlo Klimkin, in an interview with Levyi Bereg.“One of the OSCE’s proposals is to establish a warehouse in Donbas where military equipment and weapons could be stored …

  • Ukrainian government official: OSCE doesn't have the resources for an armed mission in the Donbas

    The issue of deploying a special armed mission to the Donbas may be passed on to the UN from the OSCE due to a lack of financial resources. 112.ua reported that this was stated by the Deputy Minister for the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons of Ukraine, George Tuka.

    He believes that the budget proposals of the Western partners for arming of the observational OSCE mission, and for increasing its staff to between 500 and 1,000 people, are not enough.

    “It is …

  • The OSCE recorded the transfer of military and weapons from Russia to the Donbas

    The OSCE special monitoring mission (SMM) in Ukraine has recorded the transfer of military and weapons from Russia to the occupied territory of the Donbas. “Despite the denial from combined separatists forces, the SMM continues to document evidence that Russia is sending its forces and weapons to Ukraine,” according to the statement of the United States Ambassador for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Daniel Baer.

    According to him, taking advantage of the fact that the …

  • Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs: Some OSCE members are working for Russia

    The resolution of the conflict in the Donbas will not move forward until the OSCE gains a full control of the situation there.

    Among the members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission there are those who work for Russian Federation. This was stated by the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pavlo Klimkin, while on air with “The left shore with Sonya Koshkina” TV show of Ukrainian Channel 24.

    “What is the issue with OSCE being more effective? Of course inside the organization there are …

  • US Ambassador to NATO: The EU should support sanctions against Russia until the Minsk agreements are implemented

    The European Union, following the United States, must maintain sanctions against Russia until the full implementation of the Minsk agreements. This was stated by U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute before the start of the meeting of NATO member countries' defense ministers in Brussels.

    "We expect that the EU will join us in extending sanctions against Russia, until we see the full implementation of the Minsk agreements," Lute said. He stressed that the OSCE SMM provides convincing evidence of …

  • Separatists reject proposal for OSCE armed mission in the Donbas

    Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine expressed their opposition to the deployment of an OSCE armed police mission in the region. The Chairman of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, stated on the 24th of October in Moscow that the presence of any foreign groups in the territory of the self-proclaimed is contrary to the set of measures taken to consolidate peace.

    Pushilin believes that the deployment of an OSCE armed group in the region would require changing the …

  • The Kremlin: The Normandy Four did not discuss the deployment of an armed OSCE mission along the border

    The Kremlin stated that leaders of the “Normandy Four” countries did not discuss the deployment of the armed OSCE mission in the uncontrolled area of the Ukrainian-Russian border; rather, Russian President Vladimir Putin just gave his “potential consent.” This was stated by the Russian president’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov.

    “With regard to some armed police OSCE mission, I’d like to stress – it was only about service weapons, and in the event of such a mission, indeed, Putin responded …

  • Poroshenko: Before elections in the Donbas, OSCE armed mission must gain control of border

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated that before the local elections in the Donbas, the OSCE armed mission should gain control over the border area with the Russian Federation in the eastern part of Ukraine that is currently not under Kyiv’s control.

    “I noted that a number of weapons and military equipment which Russia continues to supply through the uncontrolled area of the Russian-Ukrainian border reached the limit today when the number of tanks, artillery systems, armored personnel …

  • OSCE reported on the escalation of the situation near Mariupol

    On October 22, OSCE observers noted a deterioration of the security situation in the Donbas to the southeast of Mariupol. This was announced by the deputy chief monitor of the Special Monitoring Mission of the OSCE in Ukraine, Alexander Hug.

    “According to our reports, you can see that, indeed, we have recorded the escalation of the situation in the south of the Donetsk region, namely in the areas to the southeast of Mariupol. We recorded the use of heavy weapons, which is prohibited by the …

  • Klimkin: Elections in the Donbas are a 'distant prospect'

    Holding elections in the Donbas is a distanct prospect, as stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, to the Verkhovna Rada during an hour of questions to the government on Friday, October 21.

    "As of today, we are very far from being able to move to the question of organizing elections since it is necessary to achieve all the required security needs. And the accomplishment of these conditions will be assessed both by us and the OSCE, in particular, by the Office for …