Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine Sajdik welcomes Framework Decision on Disengagement of Forces and Hardware

MINSK, 21 September 2016 – Ambassador Martin Sajdik, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and to the Trilateral Contact Group, made the following press statement today after a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group: ‎

“I am glad to inform you that after three months of tenuous efforts and hard work, the Working Group on Security Issues has finally managed to agree on the text of the Framework Decision on Disengagement of Forces and Hardware. This document has been signed today by representatives of the government of Ukraine and of the Russian Federation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) and initialed by representatives from certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The document provides for, among other things, the establishment of areas of disengagement of forces and hardware along the contact line. The Working Group on Security Issues has also succeeded in agreeing on all issues concerning three areas of disengagement: Zolote, Petrivske and Stanytsia Luhanska.

I would like to use this opportunity to express my personal appreciation for the successful work of Ambassador Ertugul Apakan, Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) and Co-ordinator of the Working Group on Security Issues.“

The Russian original version of the Framework Decision on Disengagement of Forces and Hardware can be accessed here