Protesters set up tents in front of the park inn hotel housing OSCE monitor mission during a rally to demand release of a pro-Russian officer captured by Ukrainian military this week, in the rebel-controlled village of Donetsk, Ukraine October 16, 2021. REUTERS Alexander Ermochenko File Photo Alexander Ermochenko
- Kyiv - Nov 18 Reuters - Europe's main security watchdog said a group of its monitors over a fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine had been barred by pro-Russian separatists who are seeking the release of an officer held by the forces of Kyiv.
On Sunday the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Donetsk said that it had suspended the monitoring mission SMM by its team based in the city of donetsk after weekend protests by around 200 pro-Russian separatists over the issue of the captured officer. Since 2014, the SMM was deployed with the aim of facilitating dialogue between Kyiv's forces and the separatists amid a conflict about which Ukraine claims has claimed over 14,000 lives so far.
In their statement, the SMM said the vehicle gates of its patrol base in the rebel-controlled town of Horlivka had been locked with a chain and padlock.
The owner of the hotel. As per the statement, SMM staff said that the mission would be prevented from leaving the premises citing orders from the 'Mayor' of Horlivka.
It says two men had informed the SMM staff that they would not be allowed to leave the hotel premises until the captured officer was freed.
The rebels say an officer, Andrei Kosyak, was captured by Ukrainian military near front lines last Wednesday. He was helping to oversee the ceasefire.
The Ukraine Defence Ministry said Kosyak was a Russian citizen and belonged to a group of Russian servicemen who had carried out an undercover reconnaissance mission.
The SMM said it was ready to facilitate dialogue between the two sides but that it had nothing to do with the process to secure the release of the officer.
It said that its patrols in rebel-held areas of the Luhansk region were continuing as usual.
The separatists could not immediately be reached on Monday for comment on the situation.
The conflict dates back to 2014, when Ukraine annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Russia after mass protests were performed that ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, a Kremlin ally.
Fighting then erupted in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian forces and Kyiv separatists. Moscow rejects Kyiv's accusations that it has deliberately fomented the conflict and that it has forces in eastern Ukraine.