Russia trying to oust OSCE monitors from Ukrainian territory – Poroshenko

15:28, 10.07.2017 1 min read

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko says Russia is doing everything possible to make the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine leave the territory of Ukraine.

"We do not accept Russia's attempts to create extremely dangerous security conditions for the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, trying to create the condition [for them] to leave the occupied territory. No, we do not accept that," Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Kyiv on Monday.

According to him, the work of the OSCE monitors is important in the context of providing objective and independent information about the situation and should be done 24/7.

"I am absolutely confident that our efforts and the results reached at the G20 summit for the next phone conversation and a possible summit in the Normandy format will give a very careful optimism about progress in the next months," the president said.