MOSCOW, December 4 (Sputnik) – The number of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observers in Ukraine will be as high as 500, Lamberto Zannier, the Secretary General of OSCE, said on Thursday.
According to the official OSCE twitter account, Zannier made the statement at the 21st OSCE Ministerial Council, taking place on Thursday and Friday in Basel, Switzerland.
#OSCEMC14 OSCE SecGen .@lamzannier: Number of OSCE monitors in Ukraine to reach 500 by January, of these 350 to be in east .@OSCE_SMM
— OSCE (@OSCE) 4 декабря 2014
The crisis in Ukraine has been one of the most highly discussed topics during this year's Ministerial Council, with the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office calling the situation in the country "fragile", and adding that political leaders were responsible for not letting Europe get divided again.
The armed conflict in Ukraine escalated in mid-April with Kiev launching a military operation against independence supporters in Eastern Ukraine. A ceasefire deal was agreed upon in Minsk in September, with representatives from Ukraine, Russia and OSCE present in the meeting. Since then the Ukrainian military and the independence supporters accused each other of breaking the truce.
