Donbas militants preventing verification of withdrawn weapons

Donbas militants preventing verification of withdrawn weapons

Members of the self-proclaimed republics in Donbas, the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), are preventing OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) monitors from visiting designated permanent storage sites for the weapons withdrawn from the contact line in Donbas.OSCE SMM Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug said at a briefing in Kyiv on October 29.

The OSCE SMM was also prevented from monitoring the withdrawal of heavy weapons in Donetsk region in areas outside the Ukrainian government's control, he said.

In his words, this constitutes a violation of the provisions of the additional protocol of the Minsk agreements.