Deinego calls issue of arming officials of OSCE mission in Donbas another attempt made by Kyiv to go beyond the frameworks of peace process
DONETSK. May 12 (Interfax) - The raising by Kyiv of the issue of arming officials from the OSCE mission to Donbas is another attempt to avoid fulfilling the Minsk agreements, Vladislav Deinego, envoy of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), said in the negotiations conducted by the contact group on the settlement of the situation in southeastern Ukraine.
"The OSCE mission is now acting on the basis of a mandate, which was issued to them in February 2014. It has recently been extended by another year. If Ukraine wants to withdraw, and this mandate was obtained on Ukraine' initiative, they should tell the OSCE mission about that. I don't think Ukraine is ready to do that. Any other talks about arming the mission are completely absurd, the mandate doesn't envisage that," Deinego told reporters on Thursday.
"Something needs to be changed - it means the mandate needs to be changed. But I don't think anyone will do that [...] It's another attempt to delay the process. Ukraine is constantly lacking something. What they are really lacking is political will. But they are looking for excuses," Deinego said.
