VIENNA (Sputnik) – The Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) approved on Thursday a decision to extend its Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine for an additional year to March 31, 2016, while increasing its personnel to 1,000 monitors.
"The decision has been adopted. The details will be made public later," OSCE press-service official, Mersiha Causevic Podzic, told RIA Novosti.
Earlier in the day, the security group also extended the mandate for its observers at Ukrainian-Russian border crossings for three months, according to Russia's OSCE envoy Andrei Kelin.
The decisions were announced almost a week after envoys from the so-called Normandy Quartet, comprising France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, signed off on the extension of the OSCE mission's mandate in Ukraine and urged the organization to boost its staff there.
OSCE monitors have been deployed in Ukraine since a military conflict broke out in the country's east in April 2014. They have been monitoring the situation and publishing daily reports.
