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Russia has announced its consent to arm the OSCE monitors in Donbas with small arms in order to claim it is loyal to the Minsk process, said Director of Foreign Policy Institute of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an expert on international security issues Hryhoriy Perepelytsia, according to Obozrevatel.
"It's just a declarative statement, the demonstration of Moscow's loyalty to the Minsk process. Actually, the Kremlin clearly understands that the armed mission will not be introduced. The Russian leadership knows that the OSCE has no mandate for military missions," Perepelytsia said.
According to him, the OSCE has only a mandate for observation missions, which has been provided by the United Nations.
Read alsoOSCE Chair stands for monitors' night hours, Russia MFA doesn't mind arming themAs UNIAN reported earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he did not stand against the extension of the OSCE SMM's operations in Donbas and did not mind arming monitors with small firearms.
According to him, Russia agrees to the OSCE armed monitors accompanying "local security forces" during the elections.