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Ukraine Asks OSCE to Expand Its Monitoring Mission

Associated Press

   KYIV - Ukraine has asked the Organization for Security and Cooperation
   in Europe to expand its monitoring mission in the country, Foreign
   Minister Vadym Prystaiko said Monday after a meeting with the
   organization's chairman.

   The OSCE's special monitoring mission has been present in Ukraine since
   2014, when fighting between Ukrainians and Russia-backed separatists
   broke out in the country's eastern regions after Russia's annexation of
   Crimea.

   The mission's civilian monitors observe the situation in Ukraine in
   general and in the war-torn regions in particular, with a special task
   of facilitating dialogue between the sides of the conflict. Its mandate
   expires on March 31.

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