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OSCE says ready to increase number of monitors in Ukraine

Xinhua, June 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is ready to increase the number of its observers in Ukraine if tensions in eastern regions would escalate further, a senior OSCE official said Monday.

"The size of our mission could be ramped up to 1,000 monitors if a need arises," Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, told a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Inter-Parliamentary Council.

He said that a total of 465 observers have been deployed in Ukraine, with 375 of them working in the conflict zone in Donetsk and Lugansk regions to monitor the ceasefire between government troops and pro-independence insurgents.

Noting that currently the observers are experiencing various restrictions on their work, Hug stressed that the number of monitors could be increased only if the confronting sides grant them security guarantees and full access to the conflict area.

"I want to emphasize that there is little sense in placing additional observers, if our team would not get an access to the entire territory," Hug said.

The OSCE sent its special observer mission to Ukraine in March 2014, following a request by the Ukrainian government. Endi