BNS Two Lithuanian officers of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Joint Staff Arms Control Division on Wednesday left for the Ukrainian region of Crimea on an observer mission.
BNS
Two Lithuanian officers of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Joint Staff Arms Control Division on Wednesday left for the Ukrainian region of Crimea on an observer mission.
They have been invited by Ukraine to participate in the observer mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) by 12 March, the Defence Ministry said.
According to the statement, the military observer mission in Crimea does not require a special OSCE mandate, as member-states may voluntarily invite inspectors to a territory where military activities causing suspicions to the international community may take place.
In addition to Lithuania, another 16 countries responded to the Ukrainian call for observers, namely, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, the United States, Poland, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Denmark, Canada, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Japan.
The Lithuanian Defence Minister’s spokesman told BNS that the Lithuanian officers are Lieutenant Colonel Raimondas Ivanauskas and Major Zbignevas Zulonas.
Currently, the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea is de facto controlled by Russian forces, with Ukrainian troops surrounded in their bases.
Naujienų agentūros BNS informaciją skelbti, cituoti ar kitaip atgaminti visuomenės informavimo priemonėse bei interneto tinklalapiuose be raštiško UAB „BNS“ sutikimo neleidžiama.
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