You're reading: OSCE calls for release of American Ostrovsky, other journalists in eastern Ukraine

Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has called for the immediate release of Simon Ostrovsky, a journalist with Vice News whose gutsy video reports has shed light on the raw and militant nature of government building seizures in eastern Ukraine by Kremlin-backed groups. 

“I remain
deeply concerned about the ongoing negative pattern in relation to journalists’
safety in Ukraine,” OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović
said. “I call on all those responsible to stop harassing and attacking
journalists and let them do their job. Simon Ostrovsky should be released
immediately.”

On April 22, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the self-proclaimed mayor of Slovyansk in northern Donetsk Oblast – the city most heavily occupied by
Moscow-backed militants and suspected Russian special forces – confirmed that unidentified people in uniform captured the American and Israeli citizen.

Ostrovsky had been
filing periodic video
reports from eastern Ukraine
, in particular, of Kremlin-backed militants taking over Ukrainian government buildings, including police stations.

Officials in
Moscow have consistently denied any involvement in the unrest in eastern
Ukraine.

Ponomaryov, however, stated
that “nobody abducted him (Ostrovsky), nobody is holding him hostage, he’s with
us now in at the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine building), preparing material
and working.”

A Vice News spokesman said
that it is working to secure their reporter’s safety: “VICE is aware of
the situation and is in contact with the U.S. State Department and other
appropriate government authorities to secure the safety and security of our
friend and colleague, Simon Ostrovsky.”

Also, on April
19, separatists kidnapped Interior Minister Lieutenant Colonel Oleh Prokhorov,
the chief of the local police station in Slovyansk, local media reports say,
citing the Donetsk Oblast police.

The OSCE also
stated that on April 21, Tochka Opori magazine writer Maxim
Danilchenko, “was attacked by unidentified individuals and sustained several
injuries while covering a protest in Luhansk.”

According to the OSCE: “On the
same day Dmitriy Galko, journalist with Belarusian Noviy Chas newspaper, and
Italian and French journalists Paul Gogo and Kossimo Attanasio were reportedly
detained by unidentified individuals in uniform in Sloviansk. They were
released shortly after being detained.”

The OSCE has a team of over 100
observers in eastern Ukraine monitoring the Kremlin-backed separatist situation
that has destabilized the region, specifically in the Donetsk and Luhansk
oblasts. The OSCE mission is currently monitoring whether pro-Moscow militants
are vacating illegally occupied Ukrainian government buildings and other public
areas, including roadblocks and police stations as per a de-escalation agreement
brokered last week in Geneva between top diplomats from America, the European
Union, Ukraine and Russia.

Over the Easter weekend, instead
of vacating buildings,
Kremlin-backed terrorists took over additional government buildings
and
territory in Donetsk Oblast.

Russian officials, including
President Vladimir Putin, have denied any involvement.

Kyiv Post editor Mark
Rachkevych can be reached [email protected].