SMM OSCE says separatists have ground-to-air missiles

15:27, 21.05.2015 1 min read

The Minsk agreements are not being observed as they should be, especially with regards to the withdrawal of the heavy weapons from the contact line in Donbas, deputy head of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) Alexander Hug has said.

He said the warring parties have only partially fulfilled the Minsk agreements and related promises to withdraw heavy weapons.

The mission's drones recently registered the presence of ground-to-air missile systems in territory under the control of the 'Donetsk People's Republic', 25-kilometers away from Mariupol, Hug said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

During the briefing, he also elaborated on plans to increase the mission’s size by up to 756 observers from 42 states (including technical staff).