The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine observed a convoy of trucks marked “Humanitarian Aid from the Russian Federation” heading west near Makiivka, a Russian-controlled area of Donetsk Oblast on the morning of Oct. 25.
“The convoy consisted of 38 covered cargo trucks (28 with Russian Federation license plates and 10 with white-on-black plates), including 14 with ‘Humanitarian aid from the Russian Federation’ in Cyrillic written on them, and seven vehicles marked ‘MChS; with white-on-black plates (four covered cargo trucks, two cars and a minibus),” the SMM report says.
This morning, the Ukrainian side of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination in Donbas reported via Ukraine’s Joint Forces Operation that there were 10 military vehicles in the convoy. The OSCE report does not include such information.
Also on Oct. 25, Foreign Policy magazine cited Alexander Hug, the deputy chief of the SMM, saying that the “OSCE had not seen direct evidence of Russian involvement in eastern Ukraine.”
Hug later said that this information appeared due to “misunderstanding” and emphasized that the monitoring mission does not make any conclusions, but only captures the movement of people, equipment and destruction caused by military action.
Foreign Policy corrected the interview and added a clarification: “We have removed this remark, as it did not convey his (Hug’s) intended view. He goes on to cite facts and observations that his monitors have recorded.”
Alexander Hug leaves his post of the deputy chief of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine on Oct. 31. The mission was deployed in March 2014 following a request to the OSCE by Ukraine’s government and a consensus decision by all 57 OSCE participating States.
