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Lavrov to meet with OSCE secretary general in Moscow

The sides will exchange views on the pressing issues of the current agenda and discuss in detail the OSCE activities and the work of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold a meeting on Wednesday with Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Lamberto Zannier who will attend the fifth Moscow security conference at the invitation of Russia’s Defense Ministry.

UKRAINE CRISIS

The sides will exchange views on the pressing issues of the current agenda and discuss in detail the OSCE activities and the work of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, which controls the ceasefire implementation in the country, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week.

In line with the Minsk agreements, the OSCE was entrusted with effective monitoring and verification of the ceasefire and pullout of heavy weapons. Representatives of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) have repeatedly criticized the mission, urging it to monitor "both sides along the contact line," rather than to focus on the areas controlled by militias.

The mission’s work in Ukraine cannot be called easy as its members often come under shelling and their security is under threat. The mission still regularly reports about the cases when the sides violate commitments on withdrawing military hardware and equipment from the contact line.

Zannier wrote in his article published by Kommersant business daily ahead of his visit to Moscow that the sides could also discuss the issue of security architecture in Europe.

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