Brussels, 27/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - During a phone conversation with Russia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov on Thursday 26 February, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini reiterated that the OSCE monitoring mission should be able to have access to all the territory of East Ukraine.
“The Minsk agreements must be fully implemented. In this context, it is vital that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission gets the access it needs” on the ground, Mogherini stated.
She said that the EU is providing “substantial support” to the OSCE mission. “We are looking at ways of how to strengthen it, so that the mission can deliver”, she added. The EU and its member states have been the biggest contributor to the OSCE mission (contributing about two thirds of both the mission's budget and monitors), a source from the European External Action Service (EEAS) told EUROPE. The EU has contributed €7 million to the mission's budget through the instrument contributing to stability and peace, and it has also donated 40 vehicles and 4 armoured vehicles to the mission.
According the Russian ministry, Mogherini and Lavrov also talked on the phone about certain aspects of the EU-Russia relationship, including the issue of energy cooperation (see other article). Their conversation also covered the situation in Syria and the ongoing negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)