You're reading: OSCE SMM Head Apakan visits Luhansk region, meets with mission observers

Ertugrul Apakan, Head of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE in Ukraine, has visited Luhansk region and met with the mission observers.

“On a trip to Luhansk region this week, Chief Monitor Ertugrul Apakan met SMM staff and participated in a ceremony remembering Joseph Stone,” the OSCE SMM said on Facebook on April 24.

As reported, Joseph Stone worked in the OSCE SMM, which carries out a monitoring mission to observe the implementation of the Minsk agreements on the contact line and temporarily occupied territory of certain regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO). He was killed on April 23, 2017, while performing his duties as part of the observation patrol.

According to the OSCE, Stone died as a result of the detonation of an anti-tank mine. At the same time, former deputy head of the OSCE SMM, Alexander Hug, noted that the Ukrainian authorities should draw conclusions about the death of a mission member.