Militants again deny OSCE patrols passage across contact line

“On the morning of November 29, the armed formations in Luhansk region denied three SMM patrols passage to government-controlled areas. All patrols were travelling from non-government-controlled areas,” reads the OSCE SMM spot report 32/2021.

The first denial occurred at 09:06 at the checkpoint of the armed formations near the southern edge of the disengagement area near Zolote (government-controlled, 60km west of Luhansk). The second occurred at 10:15 at the checkpoint of the armed formations south of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge (15km north-east of Luhansk). The third occurred at 10:58 at a checkpoint of the armed formations on road T-0504 about 1.5km south-west of Molodizhne (non-government-controlled, 63km north-west of Luhansk).

“On the first occasion, members of the armed formations cited ‘the SMM’s safety’, on the second, ‘a lack of permission’ from those in control in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region and on the third occasion, ‘orders from superiors’,” the SMM reports.

The Mission notes that such denials “not only restrict the SMM’s freedom of movement across the contact line, but also prevent the SMM’s logistical operations, which are essential for the effective functioning of the Mission.”

On November 27, Russian armed formations denied the SMM patrols passage to the non-government-controlled areas across the contact line near Zolote and Molodizhne in Luhansk region.

On November 25, Russian armed formations prevented the OSCE SMM patrols from crossing the contact line near Zolote, Stanytsia Luhanska, and Molodizhne.

The day before, militants denied two SMM patrols passage across the contact line at a checkpoint near occupied Horlivka in Donetsk region.

On November 28, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General called on the Russian armed formations to immediately lift all restrictions on the movement of SMM patrols across the contact line in eastern Ukraine.

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