OSCE insists on developing schedule of priorities for de-escalation in Donbas

The special monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE SMM) has emphasizes the need to develop a schedule of priorities for de-escalation in eastern Ukraine, the OSCE said in a report for the media published on its website on Thursday.

According to the report, the SMM met with Ukrainian and Russian heads of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) in Donetsk to discuss governance arrangements in the JCCC and next steps in the implementation of the Minsk memorandum. They were later joined by members of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

"The SMM emphasized the need to develop a schedule of priorities for local de-escalation. The SMM re-iterated the need for more detailed baseline information, including present and proposed locations of heavy weapons, and the current locations of minefields," the report reads.

The SMM also visited JCCC offices in DPR-controlled village of Olenivka, Volnovakha district of Donetsk region and in government-controlled Krasnohorivka, Maryinsky district of Donetsk region. The SMM observed a DPR tank and a self-propelled howitzer on the outskirts of Olenivka. "The head of the village council in government-controlled Stepne (5km from Olenivka) told the SMM that he was unaware that the nearby JCCC offices existed," the report reads.