KIEV, May 27, 22:26 /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about the disappearance of a team of observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the eastern Ukrainian Donetsk region, the ministry’s press service said on Tuesday.
“We consider inadmissible such actions against OSCE observers, whose task is to objectively inform the international community on the events unfolding in our state, as well as to help in de-escalation of the situation,” it said.
The OSCE special observer mission in Ukraine said Tuesday it has lost contact with its team working in the Donetsk Region. According to an OSCE news release, the organization was last in touch with the group of four monitors at 18.00 local time on Monday, when the group was involved in planned patrols of Donetsk's eastern part. The OSCE said it is continuing efforts to establish contact with the group, adding that the Ukrainian government and regional authorities have been informed.
Earlier Tuesday, Russia’s permanent representative to the OSCE Andrey Kelin said there are no Russians among members of the missing group. Kelin also said that according to available information, the incident occurred at a security checkpoint when the group was returning from the city of Lugansk to Donetsk. He said the observers could be in one of the nearby inhabited localities.
Earlier, representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic told an Itar-Tass correspondent that they had not hindered the activity of the OSCE monitors.