Russia Open to Having OSCE Monitors Carry Personal Arms

Russia is set to agree with the OSCE monitors carry personal arms, but many OSCE members may be against, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia is ready to agree to have Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors carry personal arms, but it is something that many OSCE members are against, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"I will repeat that we are ready for such a compromise," Lavrov said in a televised interview on Russia's Vesti v Subbotu weekly news program, stressing, however, that many members of the OSCE are against such a move.

According to the Russian foreign minister, OSCE and UN experience shows that oftentimes unarmed monitors are better protected than armed ones.

The OSCE has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Minsk deal provisions on settling the conflict between Kiev and the pro-independence militias in the country's southeast.