Occupiers of the Russian Federation in the Donbas have stopped allowing patrols of the OSCE observation mission through the checkpoints. This is said in the report of the monitors as of October 17.
In particular, it states that an SMM patrol consisting of three vehicles and nine people arrived at a checkpoint of the armed formations on road H-15 near the Kargil plant in Kreminets (non-government-controlled, 16km south-west of Donetsk) at 12:01, intending to travel to non-government-controlled areas.
"Another SMM patrol, consisting of two vehicles and six people, intending to cross to government-controlled areas, arrived at the same checkpoint ten minutes later. At the checkpoint, two members of the armed formations denied both patrols passage, referring to instructions of their superiors "not to let the SMM pass through the checkpoint in either direction", - the observers told.
At 12:30, a man (in his thirties) in military-style clothing arrived at the checkpoint from non-government-controlled areas. He allowed the patrol travelling to government-controlled areas to pass. However, he denied the patrol travelling to non-government-controlled areas passage, stating that "SMM patrols will not be allowed to travel to non-government-controlled areas until they bring with them the captured member of the armed formations".
As reported by OstroV, 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".
About 200 pro-Russian protesters confronted OSCE monitors on Saturday to demand the release of a rebel officer captured by the Ukrainian military last week. The mission had faced previous protests organized by Moscow-backed separatists, but this time demonstrators appeared to block the entrance to the hotel where the monitors are based.