NATO backs bigger OSCE mission for Donbas - Ukrainian envoy
Ambassadors from NATO members and partner countries reiterated at a meeting in Brussels that the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) remains the sole instrument for monitoring the implementation of the Minsk agreements, Ukrainian Ambassador to NATO Ihor Dolhov has said.
"The OSCE mission is the one-and-only means of control that we have on the ground," Dolhov told reporters after the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council ambassadorial meeting on Wednesday.
At the meeting, a large number of delegations also supported a proposal to increase the OSCE mission in Ukraine to 1,000 people and prolong its mandate until March 2016, he said.
At the same time, during the discussions representatives of several delegations expressed their concern over the OSCE mission's lack of access to some parts of the conflict area in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian diplomat said.
Dolhov, however, noted that a larger OSCE mission operating in Donbas would not help resolve all problems in this region.
"That is why the parties called on Russia to use its influence over the de facto authorities of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics in order to provide representatives of the OSCE mission with access to all sites," he added.