Poroshenko: OSCE police mission should be deployed for elections in the Donbas
Ukraine is holding negotiations on the location of the armed OSCE police mission in the Donbas to ensure security during elections in this area, as stated by the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, during a media briefing at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, UNIAN reported.
“It is the firm position of Ukraine, that we should ensure security for the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements. This security component is based on the fact that we should ensure that the ceasefire is upheld, to provide an effective monitoring regime for withdrawing weapons, and effective control over the uncontrolled territory along the Ukrainian-Russian border,” Poroshenko stated.
Moreover, according to the President, “we should ensure that Russian troops withdraw and guarantee weapon storage from disarming illegal groups, and we consider that one of the most acceptable solutions to this problem is an international security component in the form of an armed OSCE police mission when it comes to holding elections in certain regions of the Donbas in accordance with Ukrainian law. To do this, we need the OSCE’s decision on the expansion of the mandate and now we are holding negotiations with our partners to provide this security component,” the Ukrainian President explained.
“At the same time we demand that the Minsk Agreements be fulfilled across the whole spectrum, i.e. to rebuild infrastructure and provide the humanitarian component and to release all hostages including those who are illegally being held in Russia: Nadiya Savchenko, Oleg Sentsov and other Ukrainian political prisoners,” Poroshenko added.