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Kiev refuses to streamline disengagement line crossing — source

The OSCE SMM has repeatedly noted that for human rights and freedoms to be observed, the procedure of border crossing by civilians via the disengagement line in Donbas should be streamlined

© Taras Dudnik/TASS

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OSCE urges Kiev to open checkpoints in Luhansk region to relief aid

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Ukraine has refused to streamline the process of crossing the disengagement line with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), a source close to the peace negotiating process in Minsk said Wednesday.

"The issue of freedom of movement across the disengagement line was raised in the [humanitarian issues] subgroup, as there are many people at the border crossing point to the DPR now. The Ukrainian side has been evading the question what they have done to solve the problem," the Donetsk News Agency quoted the source as saying.

The Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE SMM) has repeatedly noted that for human rights and freedoms to be observed, the procedure of border crossing by civilians via the disengagement line in Donbas should be streamlined.

In particular, there are huge lines at the disengagement line in the DPR due to residents of the neighboring self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), who try to cross the border in the DPR because Ukraine and the LPR have no crossing points for motor transport.

The first pedestrian border crossing point via the disengagement line in the Luhansk Region opened in the urban-type locality of Stanitsa Luhanskaya. There are no transport crossings in the region yet.

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