Poroshenko: Russia supported creation of armed OSCE mission in the Donbas
It was decided during the Berlin meeting of the Normandy Four, which consisted of the leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia, that the so-called armed OSCE police mission will be deployed to the Donbas. The mission will ensure that the region will be prepared for the local elections that will be held there. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said this at a press conference on the 20th of October after the meeting.
“We also agreed that no one will interfere with the work of the OSCE. We discussed preparing for the future local elections when the security conditions allow it. We will now make an attempt to deploy an armed OSCE police mission, which will be responsible for ensuring safety both during the electoral process, and during the transition period thereafter,” Poroshenko said.
He added that Russia had agreed with the decision to deploy this armed OSCE police mission.
Poroshenko had previously said that the local elections in Donbas could only be carried out after satisfactory security conditions had been implemented.
Negotiations of the Normandy Four were held in a closed format in Berlin. The meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Poroshenko lasted for more than five hours.
The leaders did not sign any official documents at the end of the meeting. However, the parties had agreed on the “road map” for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements which is expected to ensure a speedy de-escalation of the conflict in the Donbas.