The OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine had been deployed since 2014 when conflict first broke out between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed rebels. The OSCE was the only international organisation which directly followed the conflict.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has maintained an observational and monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine for years, announced yesterday that it would have to end the long-running deployment.
Moscow – one of the group’s members – vetoed an extension of the mission.
“This is not an easy decision to take… but the position of the Russian Federation left us with no choice but to take steps to close down the Mission,” said the OSCE chairman and Poland’s foreign minister Zbigniew Rau.
The OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine had been deployed since 2014 when conflict first broke out. The OSCE was the only international organization which directly followed the conflict.
