Russia proposes strict limitations to OSCE police mission in Ukraine

The Russian government will consider certain police functions for the armed OSCE mission being discussed for the Donbas local elections, Sergei Lavrov said on Russian television on June 4, as reported by the RIA Novosti news agency. Such police functions should be limited to monitoring the separation line and surrounding withdrawal zone, as well as warehouses of heavy armaments, he said. Such police should be allowed “pistols for self-defense,” he said.

Zenon Zawada: Such conditions are unacceptable to the West and Ukraine, who want the OSCE police to have access to the entire separatist territory, being armed with more than pistols. So we’re left to believe that this is a negotiating tactic by the Russians (to get the West to offer more concessions on the OSCE), or they’re serious. Both scenarios are equally likely, in our view, so only time will tell.