Ukrainian MFA demands that Russian-backed separatists stop attempting to intimidate OSCE
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has demanded that Russian-backed separatists stop trying to intimidate OSCE observers in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the provocations that are regularly carried out by Russian-controlled fighters against the observers of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE in Ukraine with the aim of preventing effective operations of the mission," a statement posted on the ministry’s website read.
The MFA, referencing a report released by the OSCE on the restrictions of the freedom of movement for SMM monitors, noted that “all restrictions on the freedom of movement of the SMM were committed on the territory… of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.”
"We demand that Russia and the separatists it supports stop trying to attempt to intimidate the OSCE observers, but instead ensure safe and unhindered access of the OSCE SMM to the entire temporarily occupied territory of ORDLO [Donbas], including the uncontrolled by Ukraine section of the Russian-Ukrainian border", the ministry added.
On Monday, OSCE monitors were held at gunpoint by members of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic at a checkpoint in Lukove.
According to a report released by the OSCE, “One of them [separatists] demanded in a hostile manner to search the SMM vehicles. The patrol leader explained that searching SMM vehicles was not allowed, but the armed man insisted and went ahead to perform the search. While he was doing that, another armed man inside a bunker in front of the first SMM vehicle pointed – from a distance of seven-eight meters and during most of the time – a light machine-gun (RPK) at four members of the patrol who were out of the vehicles.”
The incident lasted 8 minutes, and the observers were then allowed through the checkpoint and were able to make it back to their base in Mariupol.