You're reading: Kharkiv picketers demand objective assessment of Ukraine situation from OSCE mission

Kharkiv - Up to 25 people picketed outside Reikartz Kharkiv Hotel which hosted the press conference of the acting head of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) monitoring mission, Adam Kobieracki.

The picketers were holding banners which read “Go home,” “We are not
Kosovo, we need a real referendum!” “Mass media lie!”, “SOS” and others,
an Interfax correspondent said.

Asked which organization they represent, the picketers said they were
Kharkiv residents. Some even showed their passports. They also demanded
that the OSCE mission observers come to the rally in support of a
referendum on federalization next Sunday.

During Kobieracki’s press conference, one of the picketers, Yehor
Lohvinov, read out statement to the OSCE mission on behalf of “the
people of Kharkiv, Kharkiv region and the whole southeast of Ukraine.”

“We, the people of Kharkiv, Kharkiv region and the whole southeast of
Ukraine, are outraged by the inaction of the OSCE, your policy of
double standards, deliberate concealing of obvious instances of violence
against people and citizens, the lies of European, American and
Ukrainian mass media,” the statement said.

Not all people in Kharkiv are of this view, journalist Svetlana Kublytska told Kobieracki.

“I apologize for the man, for what he is saying. Not all Kharkiv people think that way,” Kublytska said.

The OSCE represents 57 states, Kobieracki said, without interfering in the discussion.

I have listened to everything that was said and I understand that
there can be varying opinions about the organization, but those
criticizing the OSCE should take note that their criticism is aimed at
the 57 states and not the organization as such. The discussion that you
started amongst yourselves is yet another argument that the monitoring
mission, an objective monitoring mission, is needed, Kobieracki said.