The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is to play a stronger role in helping to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. This was agreed by Federal Chancellor Merkel and Presidents Hollande, Putin and Poroshenko during a telephone conversation. All welcomed the progress made in terms of the agreed ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons. A conference is to be held in Berlin on Friday.
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The OSCE is to assume a stronger role in observing the ceasefire and withdrawal of weapons This was the result of the detailed telephone conversation between Federal Chancellor Merkel and the French President Hollande, the Russian President Putin and the Ukrainian President Poroshenko on Monday evening (02.03.2015). They have asked the OSCE to publish a daily report on relevant current developments. The reason for the telephone conversation was to determine the extent to which the Minsk Agreements are being implemented.
The parties to the conversation also agreed on the urgency of the prisoner exchange and the provision of humanitarian aid in conjunction with the International Committee of the Red Cross. As soon as the preconditions have been fulfilled, the working groups agreed in Minsk should be set up to deal with outstanding tasks, such as preparations for local elections in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
The further implementation of subjects considered in the telephone conversation is to be discussed by senior officials in the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin this Friday.
On Monday morning, Spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office, Martin Schäfer, explained that last week's "relative ceasefire" in eastern Ukraine has continued. There were still isolated incidents of artillery fire and fighting, said Schäfer, but the overall tendency was that of observing the ceasefire.
Both sides had also withdrawn heavy weapons over the weekend, said Schäfer. If the withdrawal continues, it could increasingly provide the assurance that new fighting with heavy weapons could not be initiated again quite so quickly. However, we are still "a long way away" from an all-clear.
The ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons are right at the top of the list of 13 items on the Minsk Protocol drawn up by the Contact Group. "At the moment we are discussing items 1 and 2", said Schäfer, there is still "a great deal to do".
The Federal Government is "pleased and grateful" that the OSCE is taking its job very seriously and that, despite its limited resources, it is doing everything it can to monitor the ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons.
At their meeting in Paris on Tuesday (24.02.2015) the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine agreed to extend the OSCE civilian observer mission. The mission is being extended so that the OSCE can complete its difficult and politically significant tasks.
At the moment, "like other partners of the OSCE, we are working under great pressure to improve staffing and technical and logistical provisions for OSCE." said Federal Foreign Office Spokesman Schäfer
Whether the OSCE staff numbers are adequate for the organisation's many tasks - the mission has 500 staff - must be clarified within the OSCE Council, said Schäfer. The OSCE has already submitted proposals to the member states stating which technical aids could be used, in particular to verify the withdrawal off heavy weapons, he explained. What Germany can provide is currently being determined between the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Defence, he said.