OSCE observers held in Ukraine released

 

AP The head of foreign military observers, Col. Axel Schneider, speaks to the media following his release in Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine on Saturday

Pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine on Saturday released the seven OSCE military observers and five Ukrainian assistants who had been held for more than a week.

The observers were seized on April 25 in Slovyansk, as they travelled with an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe observer team. The insurgents said they possessed unspecified suspicious material and alleged they were spying for NATO.

An observer from Sweden was also seized as part of the team, but was released earlier.

Shortly before the release, the insurgents’ leader in Slovyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomarev, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying he ordered the release because of increasing insecurity in the city.

Two Ukrainian helicopters were reported shot down outside the city on Friday, killing two crew members and the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said two other soldiers were killed in a clash on the outskirts. Mr. Ponomarev said 10 local people were killed in a confrontation with soldiers on Slovyansk’s outskirts, but there was no independent confirmation.

Despite the release, tensions in Ukraine heightened sharply after at least 42 people died in clashes between government supporters and opponents in the Black Sea port of Odessa on Friday. The clash began with street fighting between the two sides, in which as least three people were reported killed by gunfire, then turned into a grisly conflagration when government opponents took refuge in a building that caught fire after protesters threw firebombs inside.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman on Saturday decried the Odessa deaths as evidence that the interim government in Kiev encourages nationalist extremists.

“Their arms are up to their elbows in blood,” Russian news agencies quoted Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Ukraine separatists open to swap for OSCE release

 

AP A Lithuanian paratrooper gets to hold a US solder's weapon as the first American troops arrived at the Lithuanian air force base in Siauliai, Lithuania, on Saturday.

A leader for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said on Saturday that a group of foreign military observers who have been detained as suspected “NATO spies” could be released in exchange for jailed pro-Russian activists.

“They are officers from NATO member states,” said Vyacheslav Ponomaryev, self-proclaimed mayor of the eastern city of Slovyansk. “As we found maps on them containing information about the location of our checkpoints, we get the impression that they are officers carrying out a certain spying mission.”

The German-led, eight-member team was travelling under the auspices of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe when they were detained in Slovyansk.

Germany’s Defense Ministry said it had had lost contact with the team, which it said also included five Ukrainians. Tim Guldimann, the OSCE’s special envoy for Ukraine, told German public radio WDR on Saturday that “efforts are being made to solve this issue.” He declined to elaborate.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on late Friday to press for the release of the observers. A Russian embassy official was also called into the German Foreign Ministry to receive the same message.

Russia’s envoy to the OSCE, Andrei Kelin, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti in Vienna that Russia was taking “all possible steps” to free the military observers.

With tensions rising in Ukraine, the United States and its partners in the Group of Seven said on Friday night by the White House that they were prepared to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia. The White House said an announcement could come as early as Monday.

The West has accused Russia of using covert forces to encourage unrest in Ukraine, and says Moscow has done nothing to pressure separatist militias to free police stations and government buildings in at least 10 cities across the region.

Condemning Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the G-7 said- “We will now follow through on the full legal and practical consequences of this illegal annexation, including but not limited to the economic, trade and financial areas.”

OSCE says monitors trying again to enter Crimea

VIENNA: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said its monitors would try again Saturday to enter Crimea, two days after being prevented from doing so.
"Yes, the mission will try to enter Crimea today again, they are now traveling by road to Armyansk checkpoint," OSCE spokeswoman Tatyana Baeva said, adding that the mission now numbered 54 military and civilian staff from 29 countries.