OSCE observers held in east Ukraine released: Russia envoy
Iran Press TV
Sat May 3, 2014 2:44PM GMT
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held in eastern Ukraine have been released, Russia's special envoy to the region says.
'All 12 people I have on the list were freed,' Russia's RIA Novosti news agency quoted Vladimir Lukin as saying on Saturday.
He added that an OSCE delegation waited to collect the observers at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Ukraine's eastern city of Slavyansk.
'It was a voluntary humanitarian act, and we're very grateful for it to those controlling the city,' the Russian official said.
Lukin was sent to southeast Ukraine on presidential instructions on May 1 to negotiate a possible release of the OSCE observers captured by pro-Russian protesters.
Pro-Moscow activists detained the foreign mediators together with five Ukrainians on April 25, arguing that they were spying for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Two days later, one of the eight foreign observers, reported to be a Swedish national, was released on medical grounds.
The pan-European security watchdog, OSCE, insists that the team was on a diplomatic mission and was not spying for NATO.
On April 17, Kiev's interim government together with the United States, Russia and the European Union reached an agreement in the Swiss city of Geneva, calling for all sides to ease the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine, where anti-Kiev protesters keep occupying state buildings in several towns and cities.
Nevertheless, a few days later, the Kiev authorities ordered a re-launch of their controversial "anti-terrorist operations" in the east and south regions in a bid to root out the pro-Russian demonstrations.
SSM/AB
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