Safe elections in occupied Donbas require up to 12,000 OSCE policemen

10:08, 22.06.2016 1 min read

The presence of 10,000 to 12,000 OSCE policemen is necessary to ensure security during elections in temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, advisor to Ukraine's interior minister Zorian Shkiriak has said.

"I'd like to stress that in the current situation we need the presence of around 10,000-12,000 OSCE mission policemen to hold any elections in the territory of temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions," the press service of the Interior Ministry quoted the advisor as saying.

Shkiriak added that he saw no opportunity to hold elections in Donbas in the next two or three years.

"No amendments to the constitution regarding the special status [of Donbas] can be adopted," he said.

Shkiriak also stressed that no speculations on the amnesty issues are acceptable during negotiations.

"No amnesty is possible for those whose hands are coated with Ukrainians' blood," he said adding that all "pro-Russian militant groups" must be disbanded, disarmed and "withdrawn to Russia along with the armor they have brought in our territory."