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OSCE mission notified by Kiev, militia of completion of withdrawal of forces near Zolotoye

On October 29, the parties to the conflict in Donbass started to disengage forces near Zolotoye

VIENNA, November 3. /TASS/. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine has been notified by the parties to the conflict in Donbass that the withdrawal of forces near Zolotoye was completed, the OSCE SMM said in a daily report on Sunday.

"On 1 November, the SMM received a letter from the armed formations in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region, notifying that they had completed the withdrawal of forces and hardware in the agreed disengagement area near Zolote (Zolotoye - TASS)," says the report.

"On 2 November, the SMM received two Notes Verbales from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, notifying that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had completed the withdrawal of forces and hardware in the agreed disengagement area near Zolote," it reads.

According to the OSCE mission in Ukraine, the Notes Verbales from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the Donbass republics say about their readiness "to begin the removal of fortifications and other installations of military value from the disengagement area, together with baseline information and geographical co-ordinates of these fortifications, and other installations of military value."

On October 29, the parties to the conflict in Donbass started to disengage forces near Zolotoye. After multiple breaches of agreements by Ukraine, the Kiev-initiated pullback of forces unexpectedly began without any previous announcements. On Friday, the pullback was completed at Section 2 Zolotoye, which was confirmed by both sides and the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission.

Disengagement agreement

A framework agreement on disengagement of forces in Donbass was signed by Ukraine, Russia, the OSCE and the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk in September 2016. The disengagement process was completed near Zolotoye and Petrovskoye in October 2016. Disengagement near Stanitsa Luganskaya was never carried out under Ukraine’s former President Pyotr Poroshenko. Moreover, Ukrainian troops returned to their former positions in Petrovskoye and Zolotoye.

The sides got back to the implementation of the 2016 agreement only after the presidential elections in Ukraine when Kiev formed a new delegation to the Contact Group. In late June 2019, the parties finally disengaged forces near Stanitsa Luganskaya.

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