CIS

CIS

OSCE mission calls on parties in Ukraine to provide plans for weapons withdrawal

25 February 2015 03:19 (UTC +04:00)

"The parties concerned still have not provided this information, and they need to do so promptly," the head of the OSCE mission, Ertugrul Apakan, said in a statement published on Wednesday, noting that more than ten days ago OSCE monitors wrote to the signatories to the Minsk peace agreement "to make clear what is needed from them if the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine is to fulfil the task given to the mission".

"This includes: what heavy weapons they have; where these weapons are now, and which routes will be used to withdraw them; and where they will be located after they have been withdrawn," Apakan said.

"The SMM has already been monitoring the movement of heavy weapons for five months - but there is a clear distinction between this activity, which we will continue- and being able to report that these weapons are indeed withdrawn, and safely and securely stored," he said, adding that the group "can monitor and verify this process in a credible manner".