10:17 29.04.2014

UN Secretary General calls for immediate release of OSCE monitors seized in Ukraine

1 min read

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the capture of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) military inspectors and called for their immediate release, the UN Secretary General's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on April 28.

"The Secretary General strongly condemns the recent capture and detention of OSCE military monitors as well as a number of accompanying Ukrainian staff. He urges those responsible for their abduction to release them immediately, unconditionally and unharmed," Dujarric said at a briefing.

It is important to resolve the Ukrainian crisis diplomatically and politically, he said.

It has been reported that on April 25 unidentified men stopped a bus carrying OSCE inspectors at the outskirts of Sloviansk and escorted the bus to the city. The OSCE experts are working in Ukraine in accordance with Vienna Document 2011 on trust- and security-building measures.

The eight-member OSCE group is comprised of four experts from Germany and one each from Sweden, Poland, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Swedish OSCE expert Ingvi Thomas Johanson was later released.

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