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Ukraine crisis: Military observer freed in Sloviansk

The other seven members of the team are still being held in Sloviansk. Photo: BBC
BBC NEWS

One of the team of European monitors seized by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian flashpoint city of Sloviansk on Friday has been freed.

The man, reportedly Swedish, was released on medical grounds, a separatist spokeswoman told the BBC.

The eight monitors - linked to the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe - were shown to the media on Sunday.

Intensive diplomacy has been going on to try to secure their freedom.

There is no word about five Ukrainian military officers who were seized along with the group.

In eastern Ukraine, gunmen continue to occupy official buildings in a dozen cities, defying the government in Kiev.

In other developments:

  • Separatists in Donetsk have seized control of the regional TV and radio headquarters, demanding broadcasts by a Russian channel be switched back on, in place of Ukrainian-language services
  • Pro-Russian gunmen said they captured three Ukrainian security services members overnight in eastern Ukraine. Kiev later confirmed a number of its officers had been detained
  • US President Barack Obama said the Kremlin had "not lifted a finger" to implement last week's deal in Geneva aimed at easing the crisis.

The US and EU are preparing to unveil new sanctions against Russia, accusing it of destabilising Ukraine.

'Not prisoners of war'

The foreign observers are from Germany, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

They were shown to the media on Sunday, led into Sloviansk town hall by masked gunmen.

 

The German group leader chose his words carefully when they were brought before the press, reports Rob Broomby

German monitor Col Axel Schneider, who spoke for the group, stressed they were not Nato officers - contrary to claims made by the separatists - and that they were not armed fighters, but diplomats in uniforms.

"We are not prisoners of war. We are the guests of (self-declared Sloviansk) Mayor (Vyacheslav) Ponomaryov, and being treated as such."

Reporters later saw one of the group - accompanied by two men - get into an OSCE vehicle which then drove away.

Stella Khorosheva, a spokeswoman for Mr Ponomaryov, told Reuters the observer who left was a Swedish national.

"He has a mild form of diabetes and so we decided to let him go," she said.

The monitors who were captured are not part of the main OSCE mission in Ukraine, which Moscow agreed to.

They are from individual OSCE countries, invited to Ukraine by the Kiev government, says the BBC's Bethany Bell in Vienna, where the organisation has its headquarters.

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