Donetsk separatists expel OSCE mission

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MADRID, 9 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Defense Committee of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic announced this Saturday the expulsion of the Special Observation Mission for Ukraine of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“The operation of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission has been declared illegal on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the presence of its members unwanted,” a spokesman for the Donetsk separatist militias reported, quoted by the Russian press.

Now the members of the mission have until April 30 to leave this Ukrainian region, although there will be exemptions for those “participating in the organization of events related to this directive.”

Already on Friday, the Republic’s Foreign Minister, Natalia Nikonorova, reported that they were preparing a resolution to expel the mission in response to its “vague legal basis.”

“We are open to dialogue. The OSCE knows this. There are official ways to request it. There are designated authorities, but the OSCE does not participate in official contacts,” Nikonorova told her.