Dangerous mission

They are supposed to be providing an unbiased picture of the situation in Ukraine, but in the course of their work they keep getting drawn into the conflict themselves. On Thursday (29.05.2014) the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) lost contact with another group of its observers, this time in the region of Luhansk.

The OSCE announced that the team was stopped by armed men about 100 kilometers north of Luhansk at around 7 p.m. The team consisted of four members in a special monitoring mission, and their Ukrainian translator.

Contradictory information

The previous Monday, another four OSCE observers disappeared on a routine patrol east of Donetsk. So far there has been no contact with them either, an OSCE spokesperson confirmed to DW to Saturday (31.05.2014). The observers were said to be from Estonia, Denmark, Turkey and Switzerland.

However, contradictory information was supplied by separatist leader Alexei Chmilenko. He announced via the Russian news agency Interfax that these four OSCE observers had been released, saying that they'd been given a warning and ordered not to enter the area again without prior notice.

The OSCE's special observer mission is in the country at the request of the Ukrainian government, with the aim of deescalating tensions between the opposing sides of the conflict and improving security. The observers are not only active in the east of Ukraine; they are spread out in various different parts of the country, and publish regular reports on the security situation. They are unarmed, and have no military remit. The mission is supported by all 57 member states of the OSCE – including Russia.

Kremlin influence

Although Russia is also participating in the mission, separatists in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk are repeatedly preventing the OSCE observers from carrying out their work.

Wolfgang Richter of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, who has previously represented Germany at the OSCE headquarters in Vienna, sees this as an indication that Moscow "can no longer direct and oversee the separatists' every move." Nonetheless, his impression is that the Kremlin still has a great deal of influence over them: "Russia's word is law."

Russia said it is currently talking to the militant separatists in eastern Ukraine and negotiating on behalf of the OSCE observers. "Getting them released is taking time," Russia's OSCE observer Andrei Kelin told the Russian news agency Itar-Tass, saying that there was still no indication of how long the negotiations would last, or what the outcome would be.

The separatists did release a group of seven military observers, including four Germans, in early May after Russian mediation. They had been held for several days in Slovyansk. Unlike the observers currently missing, they were not part of the OSCE's official mission.

In that case, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier made a point of thanking the Russian mediator Vladimir Lukin for his work in obtaining their release, calling the negotiations "difficult" and saying had "often been on the verge of collapse."

'Security is paramount'

Despite the tense security situation, Wolfgang Richter is urging the OSCE to continue its mission in Ukraine. "The OSCE knew from the start that this mission would not be without its dangers," Richter said. "But as long as we still have an overview of the security situation and we are still in contact with the separatists, it also still makes sense for the OSCE to be there."

However, he added that if OSCE observers are directly affected by the fighting, the organization would have to consider a temporary withdrawal from the danger zone - because "safety of the OSCE observers is paramount."