Russia, Germany Discuss OSCE Team's Detention in Ukraine

MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier have discussed in a phone conversation the detention of European military observers operating in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday.

During the conversation, held at the initiative of Germany, the sides discussed “the development of the current situation in Ukraine, including the detention of the OSCE military observers from a range of European countries in the country’s southeast,” a ministry statement published on the website said.

Reuters reported Monday citing Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert that Germany has called on Russia to use its influence on Ukrainian federalists to secure the release of the team being held in Slaviansk.

"We ask the Russian government to act publicly and internally for their release,” Steffen Seibert said.

People's Mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov said last week activists had detained 11 members of a military mission under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, including eight Europeans and three Ukrainians, who are suspected of “espionage.”

Ponomaryov said Monday the OSCE military observers being held as prisoners of war in Slaviansk could be freed in exchange for the release of federalization supporters taken hostage by Kiev.

After talks on Sunday, the self-defense forces agreed to release one of the OSCE team’s members, a Swedish military officer named Ingvi Thomas Johanson. A source in the self-defense forces said Johanson was freed as “he had health problems and Sweden is not a NATO member state, and also as a show of good intentions and negotiability.” The OSCE said in a statement on its website that Johanson is diabetic.

Commenting on Johanson’s release, Seibert said the move was "a positive step" but the other seven team members must also be freed "immediately, unconditionally and unharmed."

Eastern Ukraine has been hit by pro-federalization protests in mainly Russian-speaking regions. The coup-imposed Ukrainian government earlier announced a special operation to crack down on the unrest.