Ukrainian representative in Minsk: Russia is not willing to give OSCE control over Ukrainian border Monday, June 20, 2016 7:07:00 AM

Ukraine insists that the OSCE is given control over the contact line in eastern Ukraine as well as the sites of the withdrawal of weaponry and the stretch of the Ukrainian border which is currently not under Kiev's control.

However, the Russian side agrees to allow the armed OSCE observers only on the contact line in eastern Ukraine, stated the Ukrainian representative in the political subgroup in Minsk, Evgeny Marchuk, in his interview with the Ukrainian Hromadske.TV.

According to Marchuk the sides have also differences regarding the number of the OSCE observers and the weapons they can carry. The Russian side gave their consent to the small firearms, while the Ukrainian side believes that the observers should have armored vehicles.

The Ukrainian representative expressed his criticism regarding the possible involvement of OSCE observers in ensuring safety at the local elections in the Donbas. According to him, armed OSCE observers near the voting stations will negatively impact the will of the electorate. At the same time the observers will not be authorized to carry out law enforcement activity.

According to Marchuk there are currently no discussions in Minsk regarding the armed OSCE mission in the Donbas because OSCE does not have a mandate for it.

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