Achieving Peace in Europe Only Possible Together With Russia - OSCE Chairman

Peace in Europe can only be achieved through the European Union's cooperation with Russia, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office Sebastian Kurz said Tuesday.

MAUERBACH (Sputnik) — Kurz welcomed Russia's efforts to put an end to violence in eastern Ukraine, adding that Austria, having the OSCE chairmanship, makes a lot of effort to contribute to the alleviation of the intensity of the conflict. The OSCE chairman called upon a rapid solution of the Ukrainian crisis.  He also announced that the number of OSCE Special Monitoring Mission observers in Donbass will increase to 1,000.

"We face a crisis of confidence among OSCE member states, we have the conflict in the Ukraine that divides the continent and we don't want that. I really hope that the European Union and Russia will manage to get closer. What we need is working together and not confrontation. We have to realize that peace on our continent is only possible together with Russia," Kurz told reporters ahead of the meeting of OSCE Foreign Ministers in Mauerbach.

"Thank goodness we have managed to agree on the need to strengthen and built upon the [Special] Monitoring Mission [in Donbass]," Kurz said.

The Special Monitoring Mission in the Ukraine began its work March 21, 2014. The Mission's activities encompass impartial and objective monitoring of the situation in the Ukraine and reporting back. Kurz visited the OSCE mission observers in January 2017 and identified a durable ceasefire in eastern Ukraine as a priority for the OSCE.