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OSCE observers collaborated with Ukrainian military, LPR says

According to the ministry, it uncovered documents confirming interaction of the mission’s representatives with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense

DONETSK, April 23. /TASS/. The State Security Ministry of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) said it uncovered the evidence of interaction between the representatives of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) and Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.

"As a result of a set of measures conducted by the State Security Ministry, the facts of reconnaissance and other sabotage actions by the residents of the Lugansk People’s Republic employed by the OSCE were documented," the statement posted on the agency’s website said. "It was established that the said individuals on the directions of the OSCE SMM foreign employees for a long time have been collecting classified information in the LPR’s military and socio-political spheres," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, it uncovered documents confirming interaction of the mission’s representatives with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. They include a list of infrastructure facilities in the Lugansk Region indicated as possible targets.

On April 11, the State Security Ministry of the Lugansk People’s Republic detained a member of the Lugansk team of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission on the suspicion of high treason. According to the agency, he handed over to the foreign organization information that can be used to harm the LPR’s security. On April 14, another OSCE SMM member was detained for sharing classified military information with foreign intelligence.

The OSCE’s mission was deployed to Ukraine on March 21, 2014. The mission had a staff of about 1,000 monitors. In early March, OSCE Secretary-General Helga Schmid said that nearly 500 SMM monitors had been evacuated from Ukraine following the start of Russia’s special military operation. The DPR State Defense Committee recognized the extension of the OSCE SMM’s activities in the republic illegitimate. It is to wind up its operation by April 30.

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