Russian Foreign Minister, OSCE Chief Discuss Special Monitoring Mission To Ukraine- Moscow

Umer Jamshaid Published December 06, 2018 | 08:04 PM

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday met with Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Thomas Greminger to discuss the functioning of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th December, 2018) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday met with Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Thomas Greminger to discuss the functioning of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 25th OSCE Ministerial Council, which is currently taking place in Milan, Italy.

"During the conversation, the topical issues on the OSCE agenda, as well as the organization's efforts to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, including the work of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, have been discussed," the ministry said in a statement.

The OSCE SMM was launched in March, 2014, following the Ukrainian government's request. The mission is aimed at observing and reporting on the situation in Ukraine, as well as at facilitating dialogue among all the parties to the crisis. In March, the OSCE Permanent Council extended the mission's mandate until March 31, 2019.

The military conflict in Ukraine started in 2014 after the self-proclaimed east Ukrainian republics refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government that came to power in what they perceived to be a coup. The ceasefire agreement was reached in Minsk in 2015, brokered by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France - the so-called Normandy Four - but the situation has remained tense.