Alleged OSCE Observers Held in Slavyansk by Pro-Russian Forces Are Active Duty NATO Military Officers Out of Uniform, Many from Geilenkirchen Intelligence Base Where Awacs Are Flown; Visit Was Sponsored by German Defense Ministry, Which Is Pressuring Osce To Keep Up Attempted Camouflage of Possible Spy Mission-or Worse
Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.
April 27, 2014
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Press TV: Now looking at the current events with OSCE observers, it goes to show the level of mistrust people in eastern and southern Ukraine have with regards to anything connected with Europe. How do you see the role they are playing?
Tarpley: I would have to say first of all, we should stop calling them OSCE observers because all indications are that they are not. That is what the OSCE has been saying continuously since this started and you can see it on their website. There are basically two versions. The Western media say OSCE observers, but the mayor Mr. [Vyacheslav] Ponomaryov, the pro-Russian mayor of Slavyansk, knows them as spies. I’m afraid reality seems to be going in the direction of Mr. Ponomareyov.
These are active-duty NATO military officers. They are four from Germany, one from Sweden, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Poland. All NATO or European Union (EU).
The German officers come from a place called Geilenkirchen, which is a very important NATO base. This is where the AWACS planes are flown from. It’s one of the big NATO reconnaissance centers and they particularly belong to a unit of the German army, the Bundeswehr, which is called the center for enforcement or verification tasks. In other words, it’s military intelligence. What seems also to be the case, is that they were accompanied by five active-duty Ukrainian officers of the pro-Kiev forces, the ones that are controlled by the regime.
The complicating factor is they were riding around in OSCE vehicles. They were in a bus that seems to have been displaying OSCE markings. Now, when they were captured, there was obviously tremendous pressure exercised by the German Defense Ministry and the whole NATO apparatus on the OSCE to play along with this charade, pretending that they were sent by the OSCE, but it hasn’t worked.
On Friday evening in Vienna, on the first program of the Austrian television, Claus Neukirch, a high-ranking official of the OSCE, said this was not our group, not our visit, we were not the ones who did it. This is also admitted on the Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle is the international TV and radio of the German Foreign Ministry.
All of this exists really only in German, so today, the Ukrainian foreign minister struggling to keep up this fakery to maintain the camouflage, the Ukrainian foreign minister said, “oh, the Secretary General of the OSCE will be arriving here in order to begin negotiations or to take them over.” Very wisely the secretary general of the OSCE, an Italian diplomat named Lamberto Zannier, said “no, I’m not going.” He was very well advised not to go. Who knows what would happen to him if he got there?
The fact is that for the first couple of days, negotiations were conducted exclusively by the German Defense Ministry, who were the people that made the deal with Kiev to send these people in. This was embarrassing that the German Defense Ministry leaned on the OSCE to say “why don’t you go in and negotiate,” which the OSCE I think unwisely did.
I would say to Mr. Zannier, don’t go to Ukraine, rather you should denounce the abuse and perversion of an OSCE vehicle in the name of the OSCE by what is in fact NATO military intelligence, and if you’re caught behind military lines with no uniform, that’s sometimes called espionage, whether that’s the current situation or not, it’s not clear, but I would urge everyone to stop referring to them as OSCE observers, they are NATO military officers."
BERN, 27 April 2014 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter condemned the detention of a group of military inspectors from OSCE participating States and of their Ukrainian hosts in Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine, and called for their release. One military inspector was set free today for health reasons, he confirmed. While this is a positive step, the OSCE continues to work at all levels – through the Special Monitoring Mission on the ground in Ukraine as well as through high-level political contacts – to assist for the release of all the detained persons, he said.
The German-led group of unarmed military inspectors from Germany, Denmark, Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, and their hosts from the Ukrainian Defence Ministry were detained by a group of individuals linked to the “people’s mayor” of Sloviansk. The group’s visit was being conducted upon the invitation of Ukraine under the OSCE Vienna Document 2011 on Confidence and Security-Building Measures..
Burkhalter stressed that the detention of the unarmed military inspectors and their hosts from the Ukrainian Defence Ministry was unacceptable and that the safety of all international observers in the country must be guaranteed and ensured.
He thanked the participating States and all international partners for their support in the OSCE’s efforts for the release of the detained persons. He also expressed his expectation that Russia’s signals of support, which are crucial, would rapidly translate into progress in this regard. Burkhalter called upon all sides, particularly upon all signatories of the Geneva Statement, to actively contribute to conditions which allow for effective implementation of the Geneva measures. Furthermore, he repeated his previous calls to resolve the crisis in Ukraine through inclusive dialogue.
This incident goes against the spirit of the recent Geneva Statement agreed upon by Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the United States and the European Union aiming at de-escalating the situation and leading the way out of the challenging situation, Burkhalter said. At the same time, it underlines the importance of the international community’s efforts to assist all sides in Ukraine to keep channels of communication open and find ways to peacefully resolve the crisis, Burkhalter continued.
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