Eight captured members of the OSCE monitoring mission for eastern Ukraine were brought under armed guard to a public press conference in the protester-held city of Slovyansk today, where they spoke at length, insisting they are being treated well.
The eight were captured along with some Ukrainian troops on the outskirts of the city by a pro-protester militia, and have been accused of being sent as “NATO spies,” a charge they denied.
Interestingly one of the observers, Col. Axel Schneider from Germany, pointed out that one of the eight wasn’t even from a NATO member nation. That may have escaped the notice of the militia initially, but the detainee reportedly from Sweden, was released later in the day, officially on “medical grounds.”
The other seven, who are from NATO nations, remain held indefinitely in Slovyansk, with protest leaders suggesting they were open to exchanging them for captured protest supporters.
Just a signal of Instability. The U.S. had no business backing one side over the the other. Prostestors are obvious not confident in the Kiev government.
This is a total disaster for Putin! Clearly, what Mr Ditz quaintly calls "protesers" fear, that the observers, military officers, will see something that will enable the "portesters" to be identified. If they're shown to be mercenaries working for a Russian private company, then the whole "protest" movement is discredited and Putin is further damaged.