The Organization for Security and Cooperation on Europe has suspended its monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine following protests near its headquarters in separatist-controlled Donetsk, the chief monitor said on Sunday according to Reuters.
On Saturday, October 16, around 200 pro-Russian protesters confronted OSCE monitors to demand the release of a rebel officer captured by the Ukrainian military last week.
"Because of our safety concerns and because of our safety rules and considerations we suspended our operations," Yaşar Halit Çevik told Reuters, though he added that the monitors had not yet felt threatened by the protesters.
According to the agency, a protest rally was held in front of the mission’s headquarters in Donetsk demanding the release of an officer of the mission of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) to the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC) who had been allegedly seized by Ukrainian troops.
The mission had faced previous protests organised by Moscow-backed separatists, but this time demonstrators appeared to block the entrance to the hotel where the monitors are based.