OSCE: Our observers have been arrested.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has said it is working to secure the release of several members of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) who have been arrested in eastern Ukraine.
“The OSCE is extremely concerned that a number of members of the national EMS mission have been deprived of their liberty in Donetsk and Luhansk,” the statement said.
“The OSCE is using all possible channels to facilitate the release of its staff,” she said, without elaborating.
Recall that the Moscow-backed separatists have controlled the southeastern regions of Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk, collectively known as the Donbas, for nearly eight years.
The OSCE is the largest regional intergovernmental organization in the world that deals with security while having observer status at the United Nations.
Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the promotion of human rights, freedom of the press and free and fair elections.