Headquarters of OSCE SMM in Donetsk surrounded by armed militants and protesters checked against lists – report

The headquarters of the OSCE SMM in occupied Donetsk is surrounded by armed militants, and the so-called activists who allegedly spontaneously take part in the protest campaign should be registered on the name lists upon arrival. This is said in the daily report of the Mission on October 19.

"According to the SMM, a mass gathering of 20-60 people continued around the hotel during the day", - it notes.

At the same time, the Mission's team notes the good organization of the campaign, in particular, "some of the protesters communicated through radio handsets".

"Observers saw that some of the protesters, who arrived on the morning of October 18, studied, exchanged and signed papers which apparently contained the name lists", - the OSCE SMM said in the report.

In addition, the observers "recorded… the presence of members of the armed formations around the hotel".

"Some of whom were clearly armed", - the Mission's noted in the report.

As earlier reported, on October 13, soldiers of the AFU detained an "LNR" militant who, covering his activities with the JCCC identification marks, was conducting reconnaissance in the area of ​​the Ukrainian positions. Occupation authorities of CADLO accused the OSCE SMM of inaction, demanded the release of the militant and organized blocking of the hotel where the Mission's staff lived. In turn, the European observers explained that they had not seen the moment of the arrest. The SMM knows that the "LNR" representative in the JCCC was allegedly "taken hostage" only from the words of the leadership of the illegal armed formations.

In addition, the OSCE SMM has never said that they recognize certain representatives of the "DNR/LNR" in the JCCC. Puppet authorities of the "republics" appropriated this status after the departure of Russian officers in December 2017. The occupiers announced the creation of their own "representation offices" at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination on ceasefire and expressed a desire to cooperate with the OSCE mission. However, officially, there are no representation offices of the terrorist "republics" in the Joint Centre. They are formally referred to by the Mission as "members of the armed formations with armbands bearing the legend "JCCC".