Militants bar OSCE SMM from some Yasynuvata district

17:00, 24.03.2016 1 min read

Militants have not allowed members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) to visit the Yasynuvata junction for an inspection, which may indicate the presence of armaments and military hardware banned by the Minsk agreements in that area, the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) press center has said.

"Today, they denied access to the Yasynuvata junction to the OSCE team that visited the area on an inspection mission. As a rule, such practice indicates the presence of armaments and military hardware prohibited by the Minsk agreements, which are hidden from the international community, or the relocation of illegal armed units to new positions," the press center wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

The staff expressed concern about the situation, and said that "tensions had been escalating" in the area.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Department also reported that militants obstructed the OSCE SMM work. It said the monitors were denied access to the Bezimenne area on March 22.