Military vehicles, armed men stay in center of occupied Luhansk - OSCE SMM

"On November 21 and November 22, the SMM saw that an area in Luhansk city, with radius of up to approximately to 600m from 38 Lunacharskoho Street, was cordoned off. On both days, inside the cordoned-off area, the SMM saw about 100 unidentified armed persons, most of them masked (or hiding their faces) and wearing white tape stripes on both arms. In the same area, the SMM also saw four stationary armored personnel carriers (APC) (one at each location) in Kotelnykova (BTR-variant), Lermontova Street (BTR-variant), Kotelnykova Street (BTR-80), and at Polskoho Street (BTR-70)," reads the statement.

During the morning of November 22, 20m south of the intersection of Radianska and Lermontova Streets, the SMM observed at least four military-type trucks (with no license plates), an APC (BTR-variant) and five unidentified armed persons wearing military-style clothes and wearing white tape stripes on both arms. They denied the SMM passage south through Lermontova Street, the OSCE said. 

The SMM also reports that from the afternoon of November 21 until the evening of November 22, there were no radio or TV signals available in the hotels where the SMM is accommodated.

The SMM has taken additional security and operational measures, such as recalling staff to base early on 21 November and maintaining restricted patrolling on November 21-22.

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