12:05 01.07.2016

All 57 OSCE members should decide on sending police mission to Donbas – Makeyev

2 min read
All 57 OSCE members should decide on sending police mission to Donbas – Makeyev

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Ukraine (OSCE) has accepted Ukraine's reasoning for sending an armed police mission to Donbas instead of arming the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), which is already operating in the region, Head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's Policy and Communications Department Oleksiy Makeyev said.

"The discussion about sending a police mission was held in Vienna for several weeks. It is very good that our reasoning for sending a new armed OSCE police mission, instead of arming the SMM, were taken into account," he said on Channel 5 on June 30.

Makeyev emphasized that all of the countries participating in the OSCE should decide on sending the police mission to Donbas.

"Certainly, the OSCE is a consensus organization and 57 participating states should make joint decisions, but this discussion is already being held. We explained that we need enough policemen as no one in Donbas is able to ensure secure elections today: we have no Ukrainian police or National Guard soldiers there, but there are bandits there," Makeyev said.

He added that the necessity to send the police mission was not related directly to local elections in the region.

"It is not a police mission for the elections. It is a police mission for security there. I mean not only polling stations or, for example, candidates at local elections, but also general security should be ensured there someway or other. We don't have it there today. One of the police mission's functions there would be also assistance to the SMM in its control over Ukraine-Russia border," Makeyev said.

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