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<p>The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been at the
forefront of the international response to the crisis in Ukraine over recent months.
The crisis has been a regular topic of discussion on the Organisation's agenda since
the Permanent Council met to discuss it in special session on 3 March. Both the Permanent
Council and the Forum for Security and Co-operation have discussed Ukraine on numerous
occasions since then.</p><p> </p><p>The OSCE has launched a number of initiatives
to contribute towards de-escalation of the crisis. On 21 March the Permanent Council
agreed to the deployment of a Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine. That Mission,
which includes a UK Deputy Chief Monitor and nine UK staff, swiftly deployed across
the country with a mandate to gather information, report on the security situation
and assess how best to meet the concerns of all parties. The Mission is providing
regular reporting and recently played a key role in the negotiation of the safe release
of the Vienna Document unarmed military inspectors who had been detained in Slavyansk.
In Geneva on 17 April the US, the EU, Ukraine and the Russian Federation agreed that
the Mission should have a role in verifying the implementation of agreed steps towards
de-escalation. The Government fully supports this Mission's work and is actively backing
it with both finance and personnel. The UK has so far contributed over £1 million
and is currently the second biggest contributor to the Mission's core costs.</p><p>
</p><p>In addition to the SMM, the OSCE has been active in Ukraine through the work
of its autonomous institutions, the High Commissioner on National Minorities and the
Representative on Freedom of the Media, while there has been a rolling programme of
visits by unarmed military inspectors under the Vienna Document 2011. The Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is sending a large scale mission
of 1000 observers to monitor the Ukrainian Presidential Elections on 25 May. The UK
will be providing 10% of the total number of observers with 10 Long Term Observers
and 90 Short Term Observers.</p><p> </p><p>There are no current plans for an OSCE
Summit, while the next formal Ministerial Council is due to take place in Basel, Switzerland
on 4-5 December 2014. However the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth
Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has been in
regular contact with OSCE Chairman and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, most
recently when they met in Vienna on 6 May, while the Minister for Europe, my Rt. Hon.
Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr Lidington), spoke by telephone to OSCE Secretary
General Lamberto Zannier on the same day.</p><p> </p>
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