Ukraine`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has demanded that the Russian Federation immediately grant the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine secure and unrestricted access to the occupied territory in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
”Ukraine`s Foreign Ministry has turned to the occupier state`s Foreign Ministry with the demand that the OSCE SMM to Ukraine be immediately granted secure and unrestricted access to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, in keeping with the mandate given to the SMM, which was approved by Russia among other states, to let it objectively assess the situation in the territory temporarily controlled by the Russian occupation forces,” the Ukrainian ministry said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
The ministry also called for the OSCE SMM to Ukraine, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine and the Office of the Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner to be granted immediate access to those Ukrainian citizens who were detained during a recent act of provocation by Russia.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on August 10 that it had averted alleged attempts by Ukrainian sabotage groups to enter Crimea. The FSB also said it had eliminated the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate`s network in Crimea and detained the saboteurs. Ukrainian citizen Yevhen Panov, resident of Zaporizhia region`s town of Enerhodar, was among those detained.
In response, Ukraine`s police opened a criminal case in connection with the kidnapping of Panov.
