OSCE armed mission should receive control over border with Russia before elections in Donbas - Poroshenko
KYIV. Oct 23 (Interfax) - The Organization for Control and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) armed mission should receive control over the border section with Russia uncontrolled by Kyiv in eastern Ukraine before the conduct of the local elections in Donbas, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.
"I emphasized that the amount of weapons and military equipment, which Russia continues to deliver through the uncontrolled section of the Ukrainian-Russian border, has reached its limit today: when the number of tanks, artillery weapons, armored personnel carriers, multiple rocket launchers on the occupied territory exceeds the Bundeswehr armaments. And this is why at the first stage, that is the stage before the elections, we should receive control over the border from the side of the OSCE armed mission," Poroshenko said in an interview with the Ukrainian television channels shown on Sunday evening.
This is clearly stipulated in the Minsk Agreements and the Ukrainian side has always insisted on this, the president said. "The control from the side of the OSCE armed mission should stop Russian troops, Russian weapons and Russian equipment from infiltrating," he said, adding that there has been no sensation in this stance, because the Ukrainian side has always insisted on this sequence of steps.
"On the second day after the elections we should enforce Ukrainian military's taking of the border under their control. This is already stipulated in the Minsk [Agreements] and this should be included in the roadmap with an exact date and clear-cut responsibility," Poroshenko also said.
