OSCE Observers Number in Donbas Will Be Increased to 350 - Russian Envoy

  13 February 2015    Read: 789
OSCE Observers Number in Donbas Will Be Increased to 350 - Russian Envoy
Russian OSCE ambassador said the number of observers in eastern Ukrainian conflict zone would be increased to 350.
The number of observers from the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will be increased to 350 individuals operating in Ukraine, Russian OSCE Ambassador Andrei Kelin said Friday.

“It’s assumed that already by midday tomorrow, by Saturday, the maximum number of observers will be focused in the conflict zone. There are currently around 230 of them there, and by tomorrow we will increase their numbers to 350,” Kelin said on Rossiya-24 television.

The functions of the observers from the OSCE operating in Ukraine’s conflict zone will be changed, Russian OSCE ambassador said.

“The observers’ functions will now change, this is obvious. Up until now they did more investigating on what had happened post factum. They were patrolling and went out to the areas where the loudest events occurred,” Kelin said.

Kelin said the changes in the observers’ functions were in line with the recently accepted Minsk agreements.

“Now we’re talking about something else, where they’ll observe the pulling back of [heavy] weapons to the needed distance as was defined in the complex of measures accepted in Minsk…so that the ceasefire becomes both stable and strong enough,” Kelin added.

The three-party Contact Group along with the self-proclaimed eastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk People’s republics will develop tasks for the OSCE to fulfill the Minsk agreements, Andrei Kelin said Friday.

“The trilateral Contact Group together with representatives from the DPR and LPR will develop tasks for the OSCE that it needs to fulfill in line with the [Minsk] agreements,” he said on Rossiya-24 television.

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