German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said the OSCE observers captured in Donetsk and Luhansk regions will hopefully be freed soon.
One should assess whether opportunities exist for Russian observers
for broader and more active involvement in the OSCE’s monitoring
mission, and how possible broader cooperation and renewed and maintained
control over the border will be, he told reporters after the talks with
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. However, those who expect an
enlarged OSCE monitoring mission’s to be effective and successful, must
remember that this will only be possible if the OSCE observers now in
captivity are released, Steinmeier said.
The first group of OSCE observers went missing in the Donetsk region
on May 26. It is comprised of citizens of Switzerland, Estonia, Turkey
and Denmark. Contact with the second four-member group was lost in the
Luhansk region on May 29.
Press secretary of the OSCE’s special monitoring mission in Ukraine
Michael Bociurkiw said that none of the militia groups has claimed
responsibility for the OSCE observers’ abduction.
It emerged on June 19 that the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe established contact with both groups, but they
remain in captivity. No demands have been made by the captors.
