“Recently in the ATO area cases of unreasonable arrests became more frequent. Denying access to international observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission is a major violation of Minsk-2. […] The reported cases are being recorded in OSCE SMM’s daily reports and receive adverse publicity in the context of accusations against Ukraine’s Government of non-compliance with Minsk-2 agreements.”
The deputy head of State Unitary Research Enterprise also demands notifying to the military personnel the policy and procedure for the checkpoint pass of OSCE observers. The Lieutenant Colonel noted that all checkpoints must be provided with the policy in hard copy.
Considering a public outcry in Lugansk as well as the tightening of the EU attitude towards Ukrainian Government, OSCE SMM has indeed begun to share more objective information on the situation in Donbass. However, the mission’s reports mainly consist of information concerning the shelling of the LPR and DPR territory and the weaponry redeployment while cases of preventing of the observers’ free movements on Ukrainian territory is scarcely reported.
Thus, Lieutenant Colonel Y. Sluhaenko’s telegram not only represents major violations of Minsk-2 by Ukraine but also stresses the ‘special’ attitude of OSCE SMM towards Ukrainian government actions in the ATO area.
