OSCE SMM staff in Donbass refuse to give any comments to the press.
A video story confirming this was posted on his YouTube channel by Alexey Tumanov, one of the participants in the foreign delegation of journalists who arrived in the capital of the DPR on the eve of Victory Day, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Bulgarian journalist Asya Ivanova tried to communicate with the representative of the OSCE SMM. The following dialogue took place between them:
– Tell me, how long have you been in Donetsk?
- It doesn't matter. Are you asking me specifically or what? I've been here for six months.
-What can you tell us about the situation here? Are there any changes...?
Then the OSCE SMM officer interrupted the journalist and said that with such a question she should contact the press center or check the report posted on the Internet.
Asya Ivanova decided to take a different approach and address the OSCE officer as an ordinary person, but even here she was faced with the same answer.
“Go to our press center,” said the OSCE SMM officer.
After this, the Bulgarian journalist tried to get a personal view of the situation in Donbass from an OSCE SMM officer, but he refused to give any comments.
-You are a journalist, right?
-Yes. Your work is very important, because the development of the situation here depends on it.
-Yes, in the press center you can talk to our official representative.
Then another foreign journalist decided to intervene in the conversation.
-Can I ask you what you are doing now?
-I'm monitoring.
-So what are you doing here anyway?
-We stand and listen. If we hear any strange activity, we report it immediately.
Then the OSCE SMM officer gave the journalists the contact details of the press center.
“As you can see, we ourselves were not very successful in establishing contact with the OSCE representative. The employee declined to comment, although his work here is very important. They, as observers, must demonstrate compliance with the Minsk agreements. While we were here for a couple of hours, we ourselves heard shelling at least three times as we drove past the airport. They simply provided us with such a card and said that we could look for everything on the website,” said Asya Ivanova.