organization:organization for security and cooperation in europe

  • Russland zieht plötzlich alle Beobachter des Gemeinsamen Zentrums der OSZE aus der Ukraine ab | Telepolis
    https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Russland-zieht-ploetzlich-alle-Beobachter-des-Gemeinsamen-Zentrums-der-OSZE-au

    Voici un développement inquiétant

    Der letzte OSZE-Bericht vom 17. Dezember meldet mehr Waffenstillstandsverletzungen während der letzten beiden Tage. Von beiden Seiten wird gefeuert, der Sinn ist nicht klar. Säuberlich werden die einzelnen Explosionen, Schießereien und Artilleriebeschüsse aufgelistet, die täglich in die Hunderte gehen. Von einem Waffenstillstand kann man also schon lange nicht mehr sprechen. Beide Seiten wollen offenbar lieber die militärische Konfrontation aufrechterhalten, als in einen Dialog treten. Die OSZE-SMM-Mission beschwert sich, dass den Beobachtern oft kein sicherer Zugang gewährt wird. Insbesondere sei dies bei den beiden „Volksrepubliken“ der Fall, wo den Beobachtern oft kein Zugang zur Grenze zur Ukraine genehmigt werde. Aber auch die ukrainische Armee blockiere die Beobachter.

    Wenn die russischen Beobachter des JCC abziehen, wird die Beobachtung des Waffenstillstands bzw. der anhaltenden Kämpfe schwieriger. Das könnten beide Seiten ausnutzen, offensiver zu werden. Daran haben beide Seiten eher Interesse als an der Umsetzung des Minsker Abkommens. Kiew könnte damit die USA und die Nato stärker hinter sich bringen und innenpolitischen Probleme, etwa die bis zum Präsidenten reichende Korruption, mit dem äußeren Feind überspielen, während die Separatisten Russland stärker an sich binden könnten. Ziehen sich die Russen aus dem JCCC zurück, könnte dies bedeuten, dass man den Separatisten die Möglichkeiten bieten will, offensiver vorzugehen. Genauso gut könnten dies die ukrainischen Streitkräfte und Milizen machen. Es könnte über Weihnachten jedenfalls zu einer gefährlichen Eskalation kommen.

    #Russie #Ukraine #Donbass #Nouvelle_Russie #guerre

    • Macron et Merkel exhortent la Russie à retourner au centre de contrôle en Ukraine - Sputnik France
      https://fr.sputniknews.com/international/201712231034464858-macron-merkel-russie-ukraine

      Le Président français et la chancelière allemande, intermédiaires dans le cadre du processus de Minsk, ont appelé les militaires russes à reprendre leur participation au Centre conjoint de contrôle et de coordination, en réitérant leur attachement au règlement politique et diplomatique de la crise ukrainienne.
      […]
      Le Centre conjoint de contrôle et de coordination a été créé en septembre 2014 afin de surveiller le respect du cessez-le-feu établi par le mémorandum du 19 septembre 2014. Le Centre était principalement composé de militaires russes et ukrainiens. Le 18 décembre 2017 le ministère russe des Affaires étrangères a annoncé la suspension de la participation de la Russie au travail de cette structure à cause des actions de l’Ukraine, qui, selon lui, entravait l’exécution des missions des militaires russes.

      Il faut, évidemment, aller sur un site « mal-famé » pour trouver un motif au retrait subit des militaires russes.

    • Presse de l’autre bord.

      Germany, France Call For Curb In Ukraine Cease-Fire Violations, Russia’s Return To JCCC
      https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-germany-france-urge-end-cease-fire-violations-return-jccc/28934883.html

      Germany and France have urged all sides involved in an increase in cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine to stop their actions and implement already agreed moves because there is no alternative to an exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict.

      A joint statement signed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on December 23 also called for a return of Russian officers to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) for the cease-fire in the conflict region.

      Ukrainian officials have said that Russia’s December 18 withdrawal from the body undermines the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s operations and is an attempt by the Kremlin to force Kyiv into talks with representatives of the breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.

      Rappel : #Minsk_II (28/02/2015)

      Minsk II - Wikipedia
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk_II

      4. On the first day after the pullout a dialogue is to start on modalities of conducting local elections in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation and the Law of Ukraine “On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts,” and also about the future of these districts based on the above-mentioned law.

    • Latest from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), based on information received as of 19:30, 18 December 2017 | OSCE
      http://www.osce.org/special-monitoring-mission-to-ukraine/363476

      In Donetsk region, the SMM confirmed that Russian Federation Armed Forces officers of the JCCC had withdrawn from their duties in five JCCC offices. The SMM called JCCC duty phones in “DPR”-controlled Oleksandrivka (20km south-west of Donetsk) and Yasynuvata on 18 December and found that they were answered by persons who introduced themselves as “ministry of emergency situations” members. The duty phone in “DPR”-controlled Debaltseve (58km north-east of Donetsk) was answered by someone introducing himself as an “LPR” member of a “contact group”.

    • du coup…

      Ukraine to continue operations at JCCC but to withdraw monitors from occupied Donbas | UNIAN
      https://www.unian.info/war/2305011-ua-to-continue-operations-at-jccc-but-to-withdraw-from-occupied-donb

      Meanwhile, this will certainly complicate the activities of the Joint Centre, since there will be no representatives on the other side if they withdraw their military personnel ... If Russian officers withdraw from the JCCC, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are forced to pull back from the occupied territories its monitors who were acting there on behalf of the JCCC to the territory controlled by Ukraine due to the fact that their safety will not be ensured,” said [deputy spokesman for Ukraine’s Armed Forces Yuzef] Venskovych.

  • OSCE observer in Luhansk region found to be Russian intelligence officer - media
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/osce-observer-in-luhansk-region-found-to-be-russian-intelligence-officer-m

    An observer of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE in Luhansk region, Maxim Udovichenko, has been revealed to be an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian Federation, the TSN news service of the “1+1” TV channel has reported.

    (intégralité de la brève)

    Ça ne va pas arranger les membres de la mission qui sont — déjà — soupçonnés par les deux côtés…

    • OSCE’s impartiality questioned as monitor turns out to be ex-Russian intelligence officer
      http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/osces-impartiality-questioned-as-monitor-turns-out-to-be-ex-russian-intell

      A scandal over the work in Ukraine of Russian monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has erupted after one of them was videoed saying he had recently served in Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).

      The Russian was also videoed using insulting and derogatory language regarding Ukraine.

      The OSCE said on Oct. 27 that it had expelled the monitor from its mission in Ukraine, attributing the move to the monitor’s “unprofessional conduct, (and) violations of (the OSCE) code and the principle of impartiality.” The OSCE said the observer had been “apparently inebriated.”

      The scandal underscores long-running concerns in Ukraine over the presence of Russian monitors on the OSCE mission in the country.

      Critics say that allowing representatives of an aggressor country to monitor the war zone in eastern Ukraine is an absurdity. They also suspect that some of them could be spying for Russia.

      However, the OSCE has been reluctant to recognize Russia as a party to the war in eastern Ukraine, despite there being an immense pool of evidence of the presence of Russian weapons, mercenaries and regular troops in the country.

      The monitor who triggered the scandal, Maxim Udovichenko, told Ukrainian channel 1+1 in the city of Severodonetsk in Luhansk Oblast that he had served in the 24th special forces brigade of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), according to footage of the 1+1 television network posted on the Ukraine Today channel’s site on Oct. 27.

      Yes, I served in Russian armed forces…” Udovichenko said in the video footage. “I served in the 24th brigade of special forces. I retired in 2010.

      1+1 also sent the Kyiv Post footage in which Udovichenko explicitly calls himself a “GRU officer” and appears to threaten a 1+1 journalist.

      I served in the Main Intelligence Directorate,” he told the journalist. “Are you out of your mind? You’re messing with the wrong guy.

      Udovichenko said he had retired as a lieutenant colonel, and added he had served during the war in Chechnya in 1994. He also lambasted Ukraine.

      Ukraine is a piece of shit,” he told a local resident in the 1+1 footage. “There is great Russia. It’s right nearby.

      1+1 also cited Udovichenko as saying that Russian troops would return to Ukraine.

      The entire armada has gone away to Syria, now you sort it out yourselves,” Udovichenko said in the 1+1 video, apparently referring to Russian regular troops being redeployed from Ukraine to Syria.

      Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, described the incident as a “very unfortunate and very rare occasion.

      Whatever his personal views, we’re not going to comment on them,” he told the Kyiv Post.

  • Russia backs bigger OSCE mission in Ukraine - Yahoo News
    http://news.yahoo.com/russia-backs-bigger-osce-mission-ukraine-124049940.html

    Russia said on Saturday it wanted to see a bigger European monitoring mission in Ukraine to help oversee withdrawal of mortars, tanks and light artillery under recent agreements.

    Russia’s backing for an expanded Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission may be a further sign it wanted to see the peace process succeed, an outcome that could eventually lead to Western sanctions against Russia being eased.

    Russia is in favor of increasing the number of observers to the maximum permitted 1000,” a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said, adding that the mission presently has 543 staff.

  • Brian Bonner: Bandits of Ukraine, keep stealing with impunity
    http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/bandits-of-ukraine-keep-stealing-with-impunity-398150.html

    Bandits of Ukraine, keep stealing with impunity. Nobody in authority is going to stop you – especially if you’re rich, powerful or able to pay hefty bribes to the right person.

    That’s my conclusion after listening to panel discussions at the 12th annual Yalta European Strategy from Sept. 10-12, taking place for the second year in Kyiv since Crimea’s Yalta remains under Russian occupation.

    I have been in Ukraine for a long time. But I can still appreciate the sad irony of a conference run by a billionaire oligarch, Victor Pinchuk, with another billionaire oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK, as a special partner, organizing a round-table talk called: “Rule of Law, De-Oligarchization, Fighting Corruption: Any News?

    Let me answer the question: No. There is no news. There is no de-oligarchization campaign and there is no fight against corruption under way – at least not one from people in the institutions that should be waging it: judges, prosecutors and police.

    Brian Bonner has served as the chief editor of the Kyiv Post since 2008.[…] He also worked as a member of the core teams with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe during six election observation missions in Ukraine, Belarus, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

  • ’Significant Progress’ Reported At Ukraine Peace Talks In Berlin
    http://www.rferl.org/content/article/27244732.html

    German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said “significant progress” had been made toward a resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

    Speaking after a three-and-a-half-hour meeting with his French, Russian, and Ukrainian counterparts in Berlin on September 12, Steinmeier said the talks had been “less confrontational” than previous ones and that the ministers “made headway in some critical things.”

    Steinmeier said the warring sides were now “very close” to an agreement on withdrawing weapons from the front line between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists.
    […]
    Germany’s top diplomat also said there was some progress on the legal groundwork toward holding local elections in eastern Ukraine.

    Ukraine scheduled its vote on October 25, while self-proclaimed leaders of the rebel-controlled Luhansk and Donetsk regions said they would hold their own elections on October 18 and November 1, respectively, drawing protests from Kyiv.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said differences remained on the issue, but “the general impression is that these differences can be overcome.

    Earlier in Kyiv, the secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Lamberto Zannier, said the cease-fire had held for more than 10 days, opening space “to make progress on a political level.

  • #Azerbaidjan : condamnation à 7 ans et demi de prison pour la journaliste Khadija Ismayilova

    Azerbaijani investigative reporter faces more than 7 years in prison
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/russia-and-former-soviet-union/azerbaijani-investigative-reporter-gets-jail-sentence-396951.html

    Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who has written numerous hard-hitting stories on corruption in Azerbaijan, was today sentenced to seven and a half years in prison by the Azerbaijani authorities.

    Ismayilova insists she is being imprisoned for her investigative work and that the charges lodged against her are fabricated, an assessment backed by civil society groups and media freedom organizations.

    Her journalism for Kyiv Post partner Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other press outlets, included major exposes of graft and improper business links of those in the close circle of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, including his family members.
    […]
    Acquitted of the initial charge of incitement to attempt suicide, Ismayilova was convicted of embezzlement, tax evasion and running an illegal business at the RFE/RL bureau – charges she has called ridiculous.

    This case was a travesty. It has more in common with the Stalin show trials than modern justice,” says Drew Sullivan, editor of OCCRP. “It appears Khadija was convicted politically and not criminally for her reporting.

    OCCRP joins media freedom and human rights organizations worldwide to demand Ismayilova’s immediate release. Organizations from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights have noted she is a political prisoner and her incarceration cannot be tolerated.

  • Both sides in Ukraine conflict hinder observers, OSCE says | News | DW.COM | 19.08.2015
    http://www.dw.com/en/both-sides-in-ukraine-conflict-hinder-observers-osce-says/a-18657035

    The deputy chief monitor of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Ukraine monitoring mission, Alexander Hug, has said in an interview with Germany’s “Die Welt” newspaper published on Wednesday that both sides of the Ukraine conflict are making it difficult for the OSCE to complete its work.
    Responding to question about the increase in violence in recent days despite an official ceasefire, Hug said “we are having big problems getting to the main areas where it is taking place,” adding that “both sides are massively hindering us, especially the rebels.

  • OSCE duped into false ‘Russian soldiers’ report by separatists
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/osce-duped-into-false-russian-soldiers-report-by-separatists-395018.html

    Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s east have apparently tried to discredit international monitors by planting a fake story about Russian soldiers.

    In its report for Aug. 2, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said separatist fighters had introduced themselves as Russian servicemen, immediately prompting an uproar in Ukrainian and Western media.

    An armed man guarding the facility at one of the sites claimed that he and those present at the site were part of the 16th airborne brigade from Orenburg, Russian Federation. They did not wear identifying insignia,” the report read.

    The information was widely circulated in Ukrainian and international media and portrayed as proof of Russia’s involvement in Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Information Politics, however, that is precisely what the separatist fighters had been counting on.

    In regards to the information in the OSCE report for Aug. 2 about how one of the armed terrorists identified himself and other Russian mercenaries as ‘part of the 16th airborne brigade from Orenburg – there is no such brigade. So we believe that this may have been a planned information operation to discredit Ukrainian media and the OSCE, or it may have just been the stupidity of the Russian terrorists,” a statement on the ministry’s Facebook page read.

    #bon_sang_mais_c'est_bien_sûr !

    Si tout le monde voit, à tort, des soldats russes en Ukraine orientale c’est la faute aux séparatistes qui pratiquent une désinformation éhontée.

  • Tagliavini says Contact Group on Ukraine to meet next week
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/tagliavini-says-contact-group-on-ukraine-to-meet-next-week-391265.html

    The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine will reconvene in Minsk next week, the outgoing special representative for Ukraine of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Heidi Tagliavini, said on June 16.

    H. Tagliavini qui a annoncé son retrait mais dont on ne connait pas la date.

  • OSCE says Mariupol military parade featured banned weapons
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/mariupol-military-parade-featured-banned-weapons-391210.html

    OSCE says Mariupol military parade featured banned weapons

    The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s special monitoring mission said heavy weapons that must be moved away from the contact line in Donbas in accordance with the Minsk agreements, were demonstrated during a military parade in Mariupol.

    (intégralité de la brève)

  • Swiss diplomat Tagliavini to give up Ukraine OSCE role - StarTribune.com
    http://www.startribune.com/swiss-diplomat-tagliavini-to-give-up-ukraine-osce-role/306367271

    The Swiss government says diplomat Heidi Tagliavini plans to step down as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s representative in talks between Moscow, Kiev and pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine.

    Tagliavini, who previously worked on crises in places including Chechnya and Georgia, has played a low-key but well-regarded role for the past year in efforts to cool the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

    The Swiss Foreign Ministry said Saturday that Tagliavini wants to give up her mandate soon. It gave no reason or exact timing for her departure.

    The announcement comes four days after the latest talks ended with no visible results. The OSCE’s deputy chief monitor in Ukraine has called for an urgent resumption of negotiations amid the worst fighting since a cease-fire began to take hold in March.

  • OSCE sees no obstacles for Dutch experts’ work at Malaysian Boeing crash site
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/osce-sees-no-obstacles-for-dutch-experts-work-at-malaysian-boeing-crash-si

    Monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have not observed any danger to Dutch experts working at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Alexander Hug, told reporters on Nov. 14.

    Les enquêteurs sont de nouveau sur le site depuis le mardi 11 novembre.

    Accident investigators return to MH17 crash site - DutchNews.nl
    http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/11/accident-investigators-return-to-mh17-crash-site.php

    A team of between 10 and 15 Dutch accident investigators returned on Tuesday to the site of the MH17 Malaysia Airlines crash in eastern Ukraine, according to broadcasters Nos and RTL.

    The investigators will continue searching the crash site and recovering the remains of the Boeing aircraft which came down in July killing all 298 people on board.

    However, the safety research institute told news site nu.nl that they will only confirm the news later on Tuesday if the work actually goes ahead.

    Pour l’instant, les difficultés (non précisées) rencontrées par la nouvelle équipe provenaient des « Ukrainiens ».

    MH17 investigation team in Ukraine, unable to recover wreckage - DutchNews.nl
    http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/11/mh17-investigation-team-in-ukraine-unable-to-recover-wreckage.php

    A team of accident investigators has arrived at the site of the MH17 plane crash in eastern Ukraine but will not be able to start recovery of the wreckage of the plane.

    Broadcaster Nos reported earlier on Tuesday that the team of 10 to 15 investigators was on its way from Donetsk in order to begin clearing the wreckage, but is now reporting that there is disagreement between the Dutch and the Ukrainians. What is causing the disagreement is unclear, Nos says.

    According to Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the Dutch mission, there is no agreement between the investigators and the Ukrainians at the moment.

  • OSCE denies allegations of pro-Russian bias in Ukraine’s east
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/osce-denies-allegations-of-bias-in-russias-favor-in-ukraines-east-371446.h

    Vasyl Budik, an adviser to the Defense Ministry, told Ukrainska Pravda website earlier on Tuesday that he has been told by mission representatives in Mariupol that 80 percent of the mission is composed of Russian nationals.

    What are Russia’s representatives doing in our positions? It’s not a secret that there is a war going on, and Russia is taking an active part in it. I am against Russians being a part of the mission. Do replace them with anyone else because they’re not doing the job they’re supposed to,” said Budik, according to the website.

    He also said that most of those Russians come from secret services, and use derogatory forms of address when they describe Ukrainian soldiers. But Bociurkiw insisted that the main principles of work of the OSCE is neutrality and objectivity.

    Ce à quoi, l’OSCE répond (j’ai inversé l’ordre des passages)

    A spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe refuted allegations of bias within its observation mission in eastern Ukraine voiced by an adviser to the defense minister earlier.

    He said there is only one Russian working in the monitoring mission in Mariupol, and that was “definitely less than 80 percent,” which is what a defense ministry official implied.

    (il y a environ 250 observateurs de l’OSCE en Ukraine)

    D’autres critiques (essentiellement de D. Tymchuk)

    This is not the first time the mission comes under fire for its work in Ukraine, however.

    Dmytro Tymchuk, leader of Information Resistance, a civic initiative with a mission to inform the public about the war, had previously said in his public blog that he refused to meet with OSCE representatives because of their alleged bias towards Russia after it released a report about the shelling of school #63 in Donetsk last week, which killed two teenagers.

    In the report, the mission said the shelling came from northwest of Donetsk, which many Russian and foreign media interpreted as coming from the Ukrainian positions. But OSCE denied it assigned blame, saying it only identified the direction from which the attack came.

    Tymchuk said that his group has also recorded at least four cases when OSCE vehicles were used by Russia-backed separatists, and said OSCE recognized one such facts and issued an apology, stopping short of explaining how it could happen in the first place.

    Tymchuk also said that his group has recorded cases when separatists knew about OSCE’s movements, and were able to remove heavy weaponry in time for the observation mission’s arrival.

    Pour ce dernier point, je pense que l’OSCE avertit les parties de tous ses déplacements. Ça doit même faire partie de leurs consignes impératives de sécurité…

  • OSCE says 540 people in military uniforms crossed Russia-Ukraine border last week
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/osce-says-540-people-in-military-uniforms-crossed-russia-ukraine-border-la

    A total of 540 people dressed in military uniforms crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border through the Gukovo and Donetsk checkpoints last week, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Observer Mission in Russia’s Rostov region, Paul Picard, told reporters on Oct. 24.

    (intégralité de la brève)

  • L’accord tripartite Ukraine-Russie-OSCE
    (traduction non officielle par le Kyiv Post)
    OSCE releases the 12-point protocol agreements reached between Ukraine, Russia and separatists in Minsk
    http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/osce-releases-the-12-point-protocol-agreements-reached-between-ukraine-rus

    As a result of consideration and discussion of the proposals from members of consultations in Minsk on Sept. 1. 2014, the Trilateral contact group composed of representatives from Ukraine, Russian Federation and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an understanding was reached regarding the need to take the following steps:

    1. Provide for immediate and two-sided ceasefire.
    2. Provide monitoring and verification from the side of OSCE of the ceasefire.
    3. Conduct decentralization of power, including through approval of the Law of Ukraine “On temporary order of local self-government in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions” (Law on special status)
    4. Provide permanent monitoring at the Ukrainian-Russian state border, and verification by OSCE, with creation of a safety zone in the areas adjacent to the border in Ukraine and Russian Federation.
    5. Immediately free all hostages and illegally held persons.
    6. Approve a law to prevent persecution and punishment of persons in relation to events that took place in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.
    7. Continue an inclusive national dialogue.
    8. Take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Donbas.
    9. Conduct early local elections in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On temporary order of local self-government in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions” (Law on special status).
    10. Remove illegal military formations, military equipment and militants and mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine.
    11. Approve a program for economic development of Donbas and renew the vital functions of the region.
    12. Give guarantees of personal security for participants of consultations.

  • Ukraine Retreats in Effort to Isolate Rebel Stronghold - WSJ
    http://online.wsj.com/articles/putin-lashes-out-at-ukraine-over-failure-of-talks-1409312151

    (ordre des extraits inversé)

    Along Ukraine’s southern coast, where Kiev said Russian forces helped open a third front this past week, the Russians and rebels dug in at the border town of Novoazovsk and shelled Ukrainian positions on the road to the port city of Mariupol, said Col. Andriy Lysenko, a Ukrainian military spokesman.

    But rebel claims that they had that city nearly encircled weren’t confirmed by witnesses. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who arrived in Mariupol on Friday, reported the situation was calm, while noting “significant movement of Ukrainian military vehicles—mainly armored personnel carriers.”

    Elsewhere, however, the rebels appear to gaining ground after weeks of losses.

    On Friday, a volunteer unit fighting for Kiev said it was outnumbered and was forced to abandon two key villages on a road linking Luhansk to Russia, a blow for Kiev’s efforts to encircle that city.

    There were conflicting reports of whether Kiev’s forces were driven out of the strategic highland of Savur-Mohyla, south of Donetsk, which Ukrainian forces retook after heavy fighting last month.

    “The situation remains very complex,” said Col. Lysenko.

    (…)

    Adding to the tension, the Ukrainian government proposed repealing a law banning membership in military blocs and moving toward joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a day after NATO said more than 1,000 Russian troops are fighting alongside the rebels in eastern Ukraine. Russia has said such a move would be a threat to its national interest.

  • Missing OSCE observers are in Severodonetsk - DPR prime minister
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/missing-osce-observers-are-in-severodonetsk-dpr-prime-minister-352025.html

    The prime minister of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, Oleksandr Borodai, has confirmed reports that the missing observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are in Severodonetsk.

  • Luhansk pro-Russian separatists say they have released OSCE group
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/luhansk-pro-russian-separatists-say-they-have-released-osce-group-350027.h

    The Luhansk pro-Russian insurgents have released four Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe employees and have pledged not to obstruct their further work, the leader of the “People’s Front” of the Luhansk region, Oleksiy Chmilenko, told Interfax.

    • C’est un autre groupe que celui qui a été retenu à Sloviansk le 26 mai. Celui-ci a été retenu hier soir à Luhansk.

      OSCE Special Monitoring Mission : Luhansk-based Monitors Detained | OSCE
      http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/119318

      KYIV, 30 May 2014 - At around 19:00 yesterday the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine lost contact with some members of its Luhansk-based team.

      The team was stopped in the town of Severodonetsk (100km north of Luhansk) by armed men.

      The team consists of four international SMM members, as well as one Ukrainian language assistant travelling in two vehicles.

      The detained team is in addition to one currently missing in the East that was last heard from on the evening of May 26. That group consists of four internationals.