“The decision has been made. We confirm our goodwill gesture,” Andrei Kelin said.
On Friday, envoys from the so-called Normandy Quartet, comprising France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, during talks in Berlin supported the extension of the mandate of the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine and called on the organization to expand the mission's staff, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin.
The mission was deployed to Ukraine in March 2014 at the request of Kiev authorities. OSCE experts were tasked with impartially monitoring the conflict between independence supporters and government forces in the country and facilitating dialogue between the warring parties.
OSCE experts currently monitor the ceasefire signed by Kiev authorities and the self-proclaimed republic in eastern Ukraine late February.
