Members of the "LNR" illegal militant groups in the villages of Obozne and Vesela Hora informed the OSCE observers that they are not allowed to talk to the members of Special Monitoring Mission. This is stated in the organization's report of August 15.
In Vesela Hora, one "LNR" militant explained that this measure was caused by the fact that "the SMM observers were threatened", referring to the incident that took place on August 13 near the bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska.
It was earlier reported that on August 13, the SMM patrol was monitoring civilians crossing the wooden ramps. An unarmed man wearing military-style clothing approached and spoke to the SMM, but the patrol members could not fully understand him, as he spoke in broken Russian with a strong accent.
"Judging by the accent, he was from the northern Caucasus. He walked away from the patrol but two minutes later returned with an assault rifle (AK-variant) and – with exaggerated motions – adjusted the rifle's magazine, disengaged its safety catch, and pointed it at the patrol from about 3 meters away. Two unarmed men in military-style clothing were also present. The armed man gestured with his rifle to the patrol to move, loudly saying (in Russian), "You are all spies. You do not have to walk near our positions. You have nothing to do here at all. Get out of here. I will count to three, and if you do not leave, I will shoot". He then began to count (in Russian), "One… two…". The Mission patrol leader spoke up to interrupt the count, saying that the patrol would move. The SMM immediately returned to its two armoured vehicles, which were parked south of the bridge, and departed the area", - the report of the organization said on August 13.