Ukraine Acting Foreign Minister Deshchytsia and OSCE Special Monitoring Mission Chief Apakan meet on implementation of Geneva Statement

KYIV, Ukraine, 19 April, 2014 –Acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia and the Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), Amb. Ertugrul Apakan, met today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.  The meeting was also attended by representatives of the participants of the 17 April Geneva meeting – the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United States. 

At the meeting it was agreed to move ahead rapidly with the practical implementation of the Geneva Statement. In this regard the meeting’s participants recognized the need to take immediate concrete steps towards de-escalation. Deshchytsia informed on first steps already taken in this direction.  Apakan informed of plans to send the Deputy Chief Monitor to Eastern Ukraine today to work on the practical modalities of the implementation, as well as on the ongoing work of the monitoring teams on the ground.

The participants in the meeting agreed to meet regularly in the coming days to co-ordinate implementation of the Geneva Statement as swiftly as possible.