OSCE to close down Ukraine monitoring mission

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has announced it will take “immediate steps” to end its monitoring mission in Ukraine.

“This is not an easy decision to take. We have explored all possible options through political dialogue with participating States to achieve the renewal of the Special Monitoring Mission’s mandate, but the position of the Russian Federation left us with no choice but to take steps to close down the Mission,” Zbigniew Rau, the Polish foreign minister and the OSCE’s current chairman said in a statement.