MOSCOW, June 30 (RIA Novosti) – The timeframe and range for OSCE inspectors’ mission to the Russian-Ukrainian border has not been determined, but the plan is currently being discussed, Russia’s permanent representative to the OSCE, Andrei Kelin, said Monday.
“That idea exists, it’s actually being discussed. It will be very difficult to implement along several parameters,” Kelin said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the possibility of sending OSCE inspectors to checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border in a four-party phone conversation Sunday.
According to Kelin, several options are currently being considered, though the issue is complicated by the fact that several checkpoints located between Ukraine’s Luhansk Region and Russia’s Rostov Region are under the control of independence forces.
The Russian official also said that no one can guarantee the safety of OSCE observers, as there is an apparent lack of established structures with which to negotiate.
“At present, as far as I understand, there are no clearly established structures, which could say: ‘Touch these, don’t touch those.' There are various structures including Cossacks and there are people who believe they are not subordinate to anyone,’" Kelin said.
At the same time Kelin stressed that the OSCE mission needs to continue its work in eastern Ukraine to keep a record of what is actually happening in the trouble-hit regions.
“It's difficult to work in this medley, but it’s necessary. We want the eyes of the observers there, this work is very necessary and useful because otherwise we wouldn’t have the ability to get the truth about what is happening in eastern Ukraine to the European listeners," Kelin said.
OSCE monitors have been monitoring the situation in troubled Donetsk and Luhansk for several months already, although their number has recently been reduced due to the “highly volatile situation” and multiple detentions of its monitors.
