Abducted OSCE Observers Freed in Ukraine

World | June 29, 2014, Sunday // 12:19|  views

One of the four Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers (R) released in Luhansk steps out of a minivan upon arrival in Donetsk, 28 June 2014. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The last four remaining OSCE observers who were abducted by rebels in Ukraine have been freed, as part of President Petro Poroshenko’s peace plan.

After 4 observers were freed on Friday, another 4 were released from captivity on Saturday, the BBC reported. They include a German, Spanish, Dutch, and Russian citizen. The monitoring team was abducted on May 29, but no group had claimed responsibility.

The OSCE’s spokesman Michael Bociurkiw informed that all of them are in good physical and psychological health.

Moscow welcomed the release of the observers.

"We expect the fact of their release to create the conditions necessary for the OSCE mission to continue to fulfill its tasks of monitoring the situation in Ukraine while presenting objective and comprehensive reports, as well as facilitating the de-escalation of tensions in the country”, Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated.

Poroshenko’s 15-point peace plan includes a ceasefire, decentralization of power, release of detained observers and media personnel, the establishment of a buffer zone on the Russian-Ukrainian border, and a corridor for pro-Russian rebels to leave the country. Despite the ceasefire, which President Vladimir Putin had also welcomed, fighting has continued in parts of eastern Ukraine.

 

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Tags: OSCE, observers, Ukraine, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Petro Poroshenko, ceasefire

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