OSCE Official Says Monitors Need 'Unfettered' Access In Ukraine

[uhnope]

Source: RFE/RL

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is demanding unfettered access across eastern Ukraine after one of its monitoring missions there was threatened at gunpoint by Russia-backed separatists.

Alexander Hug, the deputy chief monitor for the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, told RFE/RL that failure to prosecute those responsible for such attacks would only invite more. "As long as there is no follow-up, no one identified as responsible, and as long as impunity prevails, there will be more of these incidents," Hug said. "If there is no follow-up, it is an open invitation for more of the same."

He said that if the monitors were prevented from carrying out their work, there was little chance of resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where more than 9,400 people have been killed since April 2014. "If we can't do our job as monitors, it will be very difficult to assist the sides in finding the path to swift normalization in the eastern part of the country," Hug stressed.

The OSCE said a team from its Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) was stopped by two armed separatists near the separatist-controlled village of Lukove in the afternoon on July 29. This occurred, the OSCE said, while the monitors were following what the mission said were fresh tracks, likely left by an infantry fighting vehicle.

Read more: http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-russia-osce-monitors-demand-unfettered-access/27893202.html

---

Shorter: Russian occupational thugs are threatening and intimidating human rights observers.

[uawchild]

1. Unfiltered OCSE daily reports available direct

No need to just read the hand picked narrative from Radio Free Europe. Read and see the numerous violations by both Ukraine government and rebel forces.

Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, based on information received as of 19:30, 31 July 2016
http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/257361

Please read it, its amazingly detailed and paints a much more realistic picture of the conflict.

Just the Denial of Access report for the day is quite detailed:

On 29 July, armed “LPR” members at the “LPR” forward position on the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge denied the SMM passage from government-controlled to “LPR”-controlled areas. The JCCC was informed.
On 29 July, an armed “LPR” member stopped the SMM at the “LPR” checkpoint south of Stanytsia Luhanska bridge and took the names and ID numbers of SMM monitors. The SMM was allowed to proceed. Passing the “LPR” forward position on the bridge, an armed “LPR” member told the SMM that they could not travel from government-controlled areas towards “LPR”-controlled areas .
On 31 July armed “LPR” members at the same position on Stanytsia Luhanska bridge denied the SMM further passage from government-controlled to “LPR”-controlled areas. The JCCC was informed.
On 31 July armed “DPR” members - citing security concerns - turned the SMM away from a checkpoint close to Horlivka after a detonation was heard in the area.
On 31 July a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier stopped the SMM near government-controlled Mykolaivka (57km north of Donetsk) and prevented the SMM from proceeding to Svitlodarsk. The JCCC was informed.
On 31 July Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers prevented the SMM from monitoring the area along the railway line near Lomonosova Street in government-controlled Stanytsia Luhanska (16km north-east of Luhansk), citing demining work in the area.
On 31 July a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier told the SMM that he would shoot down an SMM UAV if it was launched near government-controlled Trokhizbenka (33km north-west of Luhansk). He claimed not to have received the information the SMM had passed to the JCCC regarding the flight. The JCCC was informed.
On 31 July the SMM was unable to visit a Ukrainian Armed Forces weapons storage site as a newly constructed earth barrier blocked the road.

Amazing resource!

It's the extreme selectivity of Radio Free Europe articles that reveal its true nature as a state funded propaganda site. Yeah, I know calling it a propaganda site sounds over the top, but that is what it is -- its pushing a selective narrative. Just look at the Denial of Access reports shown for the last 2 days, did Radio Free Europe cover it completely and accurately? No it did not.

So it goes.

_______________________________________
"Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the United States Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed".[63] RFE/RL is supervised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, alongside Voice of America.

Founded as an anti-Communist propaganda source during the Cold War, RFE/RL was headquartered in Munich, Germany, from 1949 to 1995. In 1995, the headquarters were moved to Prague in the Czech Republic, where operations have been significantly reduced since the end of the Cold War. In addition to the headquarters, the service maintains 20 local bureaus in countries throughout their broadcast region, including a corporate office in Washington, D.C. RFE/RL broadcasts in 28 languages to 21 countries[64] including Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.

RFE/RL was developed out of a belief that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political rather than military means.[65] American policymakers such as George Kennan and John Foster Dulles acknowledged that the Cold War was essentially a “war of ideas”.[66] The United States, acting through the Central Intelligence Agency, funded a long list of projects to counter the Communist appeal in Europe and the developing world.[67] The missions of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty were separate from Voice of America in the sense that VOA was meant to be the voice of America, reflecting American foreign policy and disseminating world news from an official American viewpoint, whereas RFE/RL has the mission of captivating people and stimulating non-cooperation in Communist countries."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propaganda#Radio_Free_Europe.2FRadio_Liberty

[uhnope]

2. yr lonely anti-RFE crusade using hilarious Wiki links is becoming a bit....

maudlin

bye!

[uawchild]

3. Thank you for the opportunity

to contrast a Radio Free Europe article with an unfiltered report from the OSCE itself.

The differences were illuminating.

[Purveyor]

4. I think you are doing a fine job uawchild. Keep up the good works.

[uawchild]

5. Hey, thanks! n/t

[Wilms]

6. Thanks, UAW.

I appreciate your effort to clear the fog surrounding this issue.

[uawchild]

7. Thanks!

I appreciate the feedback.

[independentpiney]

8. Thanks for the report link

The RFE propaganda left a few incidents out, didn't it? RFE is maybe slightly more restrained/subtle than Sputnik and RT, but it's no less of a propaganda outlet.