The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has resumed its limited work in support of Ukraine, despite Moscow’s veto.
With around 70 staff in Kyiv, among other things, psychosocial services must be strengthened, de-mining promoted and the illegal arms trade curbed, as OSCE diplomats reported today at the organization’s headquarters in Vienna. Germany, Poland, the US and Nordic countries are among the countries that have so far pledged around seven million euros for 23 projects, he said.
By summer, the OSCE had operated twice as many projects in Ukraine. They had to be stopped because Moscow blocked the necessary unanimous decision of all OSCE member states to extend activities. To circumvent the veto, activities will no longer be funded from the OSCE budget, but through voluntary contributions from members.