The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Saturday it was trying to secure the release of a number of Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) staff members who had been detained in eastern Ukraine, APA reports citing Reuters.
"The OSCE is extremely concerned that a number of SMM national mission members have been deprived of their liberty in Donetsk and Luhansk. The OSCE is using all available channels to facilitate the release of its staff," its media office said in response to a query, giving no more details.
In an address to the 157-member body on Friday, Britain's deputy ambassador to the Vienna-based OSCE, Deirdre Brown, criticised Russia for refusing to extend the SMM's mission in Ukraine beyond March.
"And now we have received alarming reports that Russia's proxies in Donbas are threatening Mission staff, equipment and premises and that Russian forces have taken SMM staff members captive," Brown said in the address, which was released by the British government.
The OSCE said in March it had evacuated nearly 500 international mission members from Ukraine.
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