International military observers denied entry to Crimea

Published April 10, 2014 at 4:17 pm

At the checkpoint, the observers were told that there were no reports about their arrival. They were told that the information about their arrival will be checked and they will be notified about it. However, after waiting for some time for any reports about whether they would be allowed to enter Crimea and given that in the past OSCE military observers groups were twice denied entrance to Crimea, the international team decided to head back to Kyiv, the Defense Ministry said.

Photo by OSCE

A group of people who introduced themselves as officials of the Russian Federation and the Crimean unit of the Berkut riot police has refused a group of international military observers entry to Crimea.

The incident occurred on Wednesday at the Turetsky Val checkpoint,
according to a report posted on the Web site of the Defense Ministry of
Ukraine.

The observers, accompanied by officers of the Verification Department
of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, were going to the
peninsula to monitor the progress of the evacuation of the Ukrainian
military units and army equipment to mainland.