In today’s Permanent Council meeting, U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Ambassador Daniel Baer joined other representatives in expressing ongoing regret that the Russian Federation once again refused to expand the geographic scope of the Russian Checkpoint Observation Mission. The Permanent Council today agreed to a simple rollover extension of the current mandate of the Border Observation Mission confined to two Russian checkpoints at Gukovo and Donetsk.
“This limited-scope mission, accounting for a mere kilometer of the 2,300 kilometer border between Ukraine and Russia, cannot ascertain the extent to which Russia is participating in or facilitating the flow of illegal arms, funding, and personnel to the separatists it backs in eastern Ukraine,” stated Ambassador Baer.
“The ongoing obstruction of the Russian Federation raises serious questions about Russia’s commitment to implement all elements of the Minsk Protocol,” Baer said.
