Ukrainian defense minister, OSCE chair discuss Ukraine's crisis

Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-16 04:15:44|Editor: yan
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KIEV, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak on Tuesday met with the Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Miroslav Lajcak to discuss Ukraine's crisis, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service said.

During the talks here in Kiev, the sides exchanged their views on the current situation in Ukraine's conflict-hit Donbas region and the Azov-Black Sea region, the site of the recent tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

Poltorak thanked Lajcak for listing the resolution of the "crisis in and around Ukraine" as one of the priority tasks for OSCE in 2019.

The OSCE sent its special observer mission to Ukraine in March 2014, following a request of the Ukrainian government. Currently, hundreds of unarmed OSCE observers are deployed in Ukraine, with the majority of them monitoring the cease-fire between government troops and armed groups in Donbas.

Last month, Kiev called for the deployment of OSCE monitors in the Sea of Azov following the seizure of three Ukrainian naval ships and 24 sailors in the Azov-Black Sea region for allegedly breaching the Russian border.

Lajcak arrived in Kiev earlier in the day for his first visit to Ukraine as OSCE chairperson-in-office.

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