Deputy Head of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), Alexander Hug, stated that the Kiev security forces did not allow him and other mission representatives to cross the bridge of Schastye, refusing to remove mines on the site.
Earlier today, Hug inspected the damaged bridge on the line of demarcation at Stanitsa Luganskaya.
“Today we also were at the crossing point across the Seversky Donets on the line of demarcation near Schastye,” the mission spokesman said at a briefing in Lugansk. “But together, in order to facilitate the transition, the mines that are located there stopped us and prevented us from crossing this bridge.”
“The Ukrainian armed forces did not remove the mines and the JCCC (the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the ceasefire regime) failed to coordinate these actions and somehow influence the Ukrainian side,” Hug said.
The deputy head of the mission explained that this bridge is considered as one of the possible points of transition of the line of demarcation.
“You know that this bridge is one of the opportunities that can be used by civilians for the transition, provided that this is allowed and a decision is made to open it,” he said.
Recall that in the zone of LPR’s responsibility the only officially operating checkpoint is located in the Stanitsa Luganskaya area, where the contact line runs along the Seversky Donets River. The pedestrian movement on the bridge across the river, which was partially undermined by the Kiev security forces almost two years ago, is carried out on temporary wooden stairs and decking. The movement of traffic across the bridge, which LPR repeatedly offered to restore, is now impossible.