Armed OSCE Mission in Donbass Not Under Contact Group Discussion

An armed Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Donbass has not been discussed at Wednesday's Trilateral Contact Group session, OSCE envoy to the group Martin Sajdik said.

MINSK (Sputnik) — Separately, Sajdik said the Contact Group received instructions from the Russian, German, French and Ukrainian leaders to find new areas along the contact line to withdraw the opposing sides.

He added that the OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) was experiencing difficulties accessing existing areas of the separation of forces.

Kiev launched a special military operation in Ukraine's southeast in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power as a result of a West-sponsored coup.

In February 2015, Kiev forces and Donbass independence supporters signed a peace agreement in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, as well as constitutional reforms that would give a special status to the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Despite the agreement, the ceasefire regime is regularly violated, with both sides accusing each other of multiple breaches, undermining the terms of the accord.