With armed rebels watching as they spoke, the leader of the monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, German Colonel Axel Schneider, assured reporters in Slovyansk they were in good health.
The insurgents called the eight military observers "prisoners of war." Schneider said they were being held for political reasons.
"Our presence here in Slovyansk is for sure a political instrument for the decision-makers here in the region, and the possibility to use it for negotiations."
The OSCE sent a team of negotiators to eastern Ukraine to meet with the self-proclaimed mayor of Slovyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, about freeing the military monitors.
- The rebels also displayed three bloodied and blindfolded officers from Ukraine's Security Service it captured. The officers were shown with heads bowed, and stripped of their pants and shoes.
Meanwhile, at a news conference in Malaysia, U.S. President Barack Obama warned economic sanctions against Russia will be stiffened because he said Moscow is encouraging unrest in the largely Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.
"There is strong evidence that they have been encouraging the kinds of activities that taking place in eastern and southern Ukraine and so, collectively, us and the Europeans have said that so long as Russia continues down the path of provocation rather than try to resolve this issue peacefully and de-escalating, there are going to be consequences. And those consequences will continue to grow.".......[voanews.com]
27/4/14
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Los separatistas prorrusos liberan a uno de los observadores secuestrados...
ReplyDeleteLos separatistas prorrusos han puesto en libertad a uno de los 13 observadores de la OSCE retenidos desde el pasado viernes en Slaviansk. Se trata de un militar sueco, que ha sido puesto en libertad por motivos médicos.
Según relataron varios periodistas, el hombre, escoltado por tres hombres que no iban armados, se subió en un vehículo de la OSCE que arrancó justo después.
Los separatistas no han querido hacer declaraciones. Stella Korosheva, portavoz del alcalde de Slaviansk informó que el militar liberado padece diabetes. Preguntada sobre si va a ser el único observador liberado, Korosheva afirmó que "sí". Los observadores aún retenidos son cinco ucranianos, tres soldados alemanes, un traductor alemán, un soldado de la República Checa, otro de Polonia y otro de Dinamarca.
En Slaviansk, este mediodía, los rebeldes prorrusos mostraban ante la prensa a ocho de los 13 inspectores de la OSCE retenido. El coronel alemán Oberst Axel Schneider, relataba Xavier Colás, uno de los inspectores militares europeos retenidos, consideraba ue él y sus colegas no son "prisioneros", sino "huéspedes" del autoproclamado alcalde de esa ciudad ucraniana.
http://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2014/04/27/535d306622601d75758b4572.html
27/4/14