KYIV. Sept 23 (Interfax) - The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) welcomes the Framework Decision on Disengagement of Forces and Hardware in three Donbas areas which has been signed in Minsk, OSCE SMM Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug said.
He told a press briefing in Kyiv on Friday that the OSCE mission welcomed the disengagement decision for three sections and would be verifying its fulfillment. He also said that OSCE representatives would be doing the job on both sides of the contact line.
It will be impossible to state compliance with the agreement without receiving an opinion of the mission and conducting thorough verification, Hug said.
The mission has enough resources for thorough monitoring of the disengagement of forces and hardware in the populated areas of Petrovske, Zolote and Stanitsa Luhanska. According to Hug, the mission possesses resources and support from 57 OSCE member countries and is conducting visual and acoustic monitoring. The signatories must hold their end of the bargain - provide access to the monitors and pull back their forces and hardware, Hug said, adding that the monitors had repeatedly encountered obstruction of their activity. Movement of the monitors was limited in Petrovske and Zolote, two out of three sectors chosen in Minsk, even on the day when the decision was signed, he said.
Contact Group members signed the Framework Decision on Disengagement of Forces and Hardware in three areas of Donbas on September 21. The document said three security zones, at least 4,000 square meters in size, would be created on the contact line near the populated localities of Zolote, Petrovske and Stanitsa Luhanska. OSCE SMM monitors would control compliance with the agreements.