OSCE Chairperson Dačić welcomes determination of 'Normandy Format' foreign ministers to push forward full implementation of Minsk measures

WASHINGTON, 25 February 2015 - OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Serbia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić, welcomed the commitment of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, expressed during yesterday’s meeting of the “Normandy Format” in Paris, to push forward the full implementation of the Package of Measures agreed in Minsk.

The Chairperson-in-Office once again urged all the sides to immediately cease all hostilities and encouraged them to engage in immediate withdrawal of heavy weapons.

Dačić took note of today's daily report of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine on the movement of heavy weapons, and endorsed the statement made earlier by the SMM's Chief Monitor, Ambassador Apakan, reiterating that for effective and credible verification of the withdrawal of heavy weapons as provided for in the Package of Measures to occur, the SMM needs to obtain baseline information from all the signatories on what heavy weapons they have, planned withdrawal routes, and collection and storage sites.