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First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko says that the introduction of the OSCE police mission to Donbas is a key requirement for the region’s effective demilitarization, an UNIAN correspondent reports from an international conference held in Kyiv Tuesday, July 4.
"The issue of demilitarization remains acute," Gerashchenko said while addressing a conference titled "Militarization of the occupied territories: the factor of the destabilization of the Euro-Atlantic region and the mechanism of geopolitical influence.”
“First of all, frankly, we’ve been raising the issue of creating a fifth subgroup in Minsk on the border issues [within the framework of the Tripartite Liaison Group], which should start discussing as early as today, how actually the procedure will happen, prescribed in Minsk Agreements but not in fact worked out step-by-step, for transferring part of the Russian-Ukrainian border first under the control of the OSCE, and then returning it under the Ukrainian jurisdiction," said Gerashchenko.
Read alsoEuropean parliamentarians to visit Mariupol, ATO zone this week – Gerashchenko"Obviously, in this context, a very important initiative, which, unfortunately, does not find the necessary support within OSCE, primarily because it is being blocked by the Russian Federation, is the one by the president and Ukrainian diplomats on the need to deploy a police mission in Donbas because this is key for the region’s demilitarization," Gerashchenko said.