The organization for security and Cooperation in Europe, or the OSCE, is sending a negotiation team to Slaviansk, to work on freeing the detained observers in eastern Ukraine. OSCE spokesperson Natacha Rajakovic, said they are doing everything they can to secure the observers’ release.
Pro-Russian fighters in eastern Ukraine said in a briefing that the kidnapped team are being held in the national security building in Slaviansk. They claimed to have found a Ukrainian spy travelling with the group, which included four Germans, a Czech, a Dane and a Swede.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his country has established a crisis management team to deal with the incident. Steinmeier said he had spoken to the chairperson of the OSCE, the Ukrainian president and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who have offered their full support.
In a telephone conversation with US Secretary of state John Kerry, Lavrov urged the US to assist the release of protest leaders arrested in southeastern Ukraine. Kerry assured that Washington would use its capabilities to encourage Kiev authorities to undertake measures to decrease tensions.
