OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva (center right) speaks during his meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, Kyiv, 13 November 2015.

KYIV, 13 November 2015 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) met today with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Kyiv at the conclusion of his three-day visit to the country.

The sides discussed a range of policy- and security-related issues, including the current and potential roles of the OSCE in monitoring and mediating the crisis in and around Ukraine; the work of the Normandy format; the priority for Ukraine to regain full control of the state border; and the government’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

The President shared his impressions of the security and humanitarian situation in Donetsk oblast based on his visit to the region with Ukraine’s OSCE PA Delegation Head, Artur Gerasymov, on 12 November. The sides agreed that restrictions imposed by illegal separatists on access for OSCE monitors and international and national humanitarian aid agencies is unacceptable.

“It is clear to me that there are continuing serious attempts to destabilize Ukraine, keep its sovereignty compromised and interfere with its long-term future. Foreign Minister Klimkin and I held a frank discussion about this situation and its practical impacts, including on the ability to administer free and fair elections across Donbas and other vital steps specified in the Minsk Agreements. The international community must not falter – but rather, even increase its efforts – in helping Ukraine overcome these challenges,” President Kanerva said.

The President met earlier in his visit with Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Groysman, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) Chief Monitor Ertugrul Apakan and members of the Ukrainian Delegation to the OSCE PA.