Intense talks continue over Crimea observers

As round-the-clock diplomacy on the situation in Ukraine continues – led by the Organisation for Security and Economic Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and its chairman, Swiss President Didier Burkhalter – Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed “in principle” to an OSCE observer mission to Crimea.

Putin said as much in a telephone conversation with Burkhalter on Monday. Now, says the Swiss president, a clearer mandate for the OSCE observers must be negotiated.

“We are very close to having a consensus among all 57 (OSCE) members,” Burkhalter told Swiss public television SRF.

Also on Monday – the day that the European Union and the United States placed sanctions on certain high-ranking representatives of Russia and Ukraine, including travel bans and blocked bank accounts – the Swiss House of Representatives questioned Burkhalter on the ongoing situation in the context of the 2013 report on foreign policy.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/Intense_talks_continue_over_Crimea_observers.html?cid=38183204