LUGAANSK, October 17. /TASS/. The Lugansk office of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine has received no instructions to suspend its operation, a source in the mission’s office told TASS on Sunday.

"Yes, we have seen the report from [OSCE SMM Chief Monitor [Yasar Halit] Cevik, but so far we have received no instructions to suspend operation. So, we continue to work," the source said.

Cevik told Reuters earlier that the mission suspended its operation in Donbass due to security considerations.

According to the agency, a protest rally was held in front of the mission’s headquarters in Donetsk demanding the release of an officer of the mission of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) to the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC) who had been seized by Ukrainian troops.

In the morning on October 13, a Ukrainian reconnaissance party seized an officer of the LPR mission to the JCCC in the disengagement zone near the settlement of Zolotoye during road clearance works that had been previously agreed with the Ukrainian side. The republic demanded an immediate release of the man. On Thursday, Ukraine’s Security Service said that the man had been charged with the organization of an illegal armed group, alleging he had been using a mine clearance operation as a cover for reconnaissance activities. LPR Head Leonid Pasechnik said that further dialogue with Kiev within the Minsk format is senseless until the officer is released. The LPR’s mission to the JCCC restricted a number of routes for SMM monitors.