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OSCE to work with UN to provide security to observers in Ukraine — Italian top diplomat

Earlier Russia submitted to the Security Council a draft resolution on deployment of the UN forces to Donbass for protecting the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission observers

ROME, January 30. /TASS/. The Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will work with the United Nations (UN) to provide security for its observers, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Angelino Alfano said in an interview with TASS on Tuesday ahead of his trip to Ukraine and Russia as the OSCE chairperson-in-office.

Read also

US drops off demand for immediate transition of Donbass under UN mission control

"The issue of providing security for the OSCE observers is a priority. They (the observers - TASS) play an important role by providing objective assessment of the development of the situation in the region affected by the conflict and supplying valuable information for the search for political solutions," Alfano noted.

"We should continue to work on the UN mission project, the appropriateness of which was confirmed both in Russia and Ukraine, paying attention, in particular, to its mandate, its form and terms of operation, as well as necessary coordination between the OSCE and UN on this issue," he added.

On December 14, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his annual news conference that Moscow is not against placing Donbass under international control, but Kiev should directly negotiate it with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR). He reiterated that earlier Russia submitted to the Security Council a draft resolution on deployment of the UN forces to Donbass for protecting the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission observers. Kiev stated that Ukraine is not satisfied with the format of the mission in Donbass proposed by the Russian president and insists on deployment of "peacemaking forces" along the Russian-Ukrainian border.

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Ukraine crisis Eastern Ukraine

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