A team from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine led by Deputy Chief Monitor Mark Etherington held a number of meetings both with local officials and pro-Russian activists in Donetsk on April 22, according to a statement posted on the Web site of the OSCE.
“We have had a useful and constructive meeting with representatives of the group occupying the Donetsk regional administration building; the Mayor of Donetsk; and Donetsk chief of police. They explained their positions,” Etherington said.
“We also discussed the need for dialogue and the de-escalation of tensions, and the need to refrain from violence,” he added.
Meanwhile, OSCE Chief Monitor in Ukraine Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan called on April 22 for the immediate release of the head of police of Kramatorsk in Donetsk region, Colonel Vitaliy Kolupai, who was abducted by armed people on april 21, the OSCE Web site reported.
According to the report, monitors of the OSCE Mission in Ukraine talked to witnesses in Kramatorsk who were able to confirm reports that armed individuals who called themselves supporters of the so-called Donetsk Republic entered the premises of Kramatorsk police department and abducted its head Vitaliy Kolupai who is being kept against his will.
“Coercion against representatives of the state is unacceptable, and I urge for the immediate release of Colonel Kolupai,” Apakan said.
