Updated 8:55 p.m. Moscow Time
VIENNA, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - The OSCE Permanent Council extended on Wednesday the mandate of its monitoring mission at two crossing points on Russia-Ukraine border for another month, Europe's main security body said.
Moscow agreed in July to international monitoring of its Gukovo and Donetsk checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border to ensure transparency of border traffic between Russia and self-proclaimed regions in eastern Ukraine.
The decision, adopted unanimously by 57 OSCE member-states, follows heated debates on the necessity of expansion of the mission to other border crossings.
Russia has insisted that it maintains strict control over all of its checkpoints and does not see the necessity of expanding the mission.
The OSCE Observer Mission at Gukovo and Donetsk checkpoints is headquartered in the Russian town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky and includes 16 civilian monitors who report on the situation at the checkpoints and movements across the border.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring mission was deployed in March, following the Ukrainian government's request. The monitors from OSCE participating states are mandated to contribute to decreasing tensions and helping ensure stability and peace in the region, gathering information and reporting on the security situation.
