OSCE open for discussion of police mission options in Donbas

11:55, 10.05.2016 1 min read

OSCE has no specific proposal towards deployment of the police mission in the east of Ukraine, but the organization is open for a discussion on this topic, said OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier.

"We have a mandate [of mission working in Ukraine].The mandate is for an unarmed civilian mission. The mission's functions have been expanding, because we are monitoring and facilitating the agreements made in Minsk. We have heard statements about the police [mission], but at this moment there is no specific proposal of the OSCE on this. There are ideas out there that seem to be different. There are ideas for a police contingent, some others to give weapons to the monitors in the Contact Zone, so I am very open to be supportive," the OSCE secretary general told in an interview with media in Kyiv on Monday.

Zannier stressed that the OSCE has potentially the ability to have a "more robust kind of operations."

"So, we certainly have the discussion. We can see what can be done. We have to see the parameters of what is being proposed. We need to have a consensus. So, everyone has to agree," he said.