Germany: Osce Monitors Should Have Full Freedom

Germany has called on Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists to ensure unrestricted freedom of movement for international ceasefire monitors.



German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, were being obstructed in eastern Ukraine despite the Minsk ceasefire deal agreed last month.



 "The conflict parties should make available all the necessary information to the OSCE, and also they should enable full freedom of movement for the OSCE observers," Seibert said at a press conference in Berlin.



German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said that, for a durable ceasefire in the region, the OSCE observer mission should be further strengthened by personnel, technical and logistical capabilities.



Schaefer said that senior diplomats from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France, as well as senior officials from OSCE met in Berlin on Friday to continue their consultations or the implementation of the ceasefire.



The Feb. 12 cease-fire agreement includes the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from combat areas, the withdrawal of all foreign armed forces and the release of all hostages and unlawfully detained persons, as well as political reforms and decentralization in Ukraine's eastern regions.



More than 6,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russian separatists since April 2014, according to a United Nations human rights monitoring group report on Monday.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Berlin