MOSCOW. May 28 (Interfax) - Authorities of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" said they did not have information on the fate of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitors, contact with whom was lost on May 26.
"We know nothing about location and fate of OSCE monitors. We hear about their disappearance for the first time," the "Donetsk People's Republic" Co-Chairman Myroslav Rudenko told Interfax on Tuesday.
Armed people, controlled by former Ukrainian presidential candidate, radical party leader Oleh Lyashko, operate in the vicinity of Donetsk, Rudenko said.
"It is quite possible that this was done by them. Cases are known, where these people were involved in abductions and murders," he said.
Same facilities in Donetsk have just sustained massive attacks by the Ukrainian forces, Rudenko said. "It can not be ruled out that monitors could have been in the fire zone," he said.
It has been reported that a special OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine lost contact with a group working in the Donetsk region. The team was on a routine patrol east of Donetsk when contact with it was lost and efforts to restore it have so far failed, the OSCE said in a statement.