Captured Observers Shown at Press Conference in Eastern Ukraine

April 28th, 2014

David Schulberg

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.