Occupiers deny OSCE SMM passage to camera system near Zolote

“On the morning of 20 December, the armed formations in Luhansk region denied the Mission passage to an electricity box, part of the power supply to the SMM’s camera system in the disengagement area near Zolote. The box was located 100m south of the southern edge of the disengagement area,” reads the OSCE SMM spot report 45/2021.

As noted, the SMM patrol, embedded with two technical specialists, was travelling from the direction of Kadiivka (formerly Stakhanov, non-government-controlled, 50km west of Luhansk).

“The denial occurred at 09:44 at the checkpoint of the armed formations near the southern edge of the disengagement area, when a member of the armed formations denied the Mission passage, citing a ‘lack of prior notification’,” the SMM informs.

 At 10:12 another SMM patrol, after it had entered the disengagement area from the government-controlled areas, arrived at the camera site 350m north of its southern edge and performed camera maintenance at the site.

As reported, Russian-occupation forces regularly prevent OSCE SMM patrols from crossing the contact line in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

ol