Spot Report: SMM observes armed men in Luhansk city

On 21 November and 22 November, the SMM saw that an area in Luhansk city, with radius of up to approximately to 600m from 38 Lunacharskoho Street, was cordoned off (see SMM Daily Report 22 November 2017). On both days, inside the cordoned-off area, the SMM saw about 100 unidentified armed persons, most of them masked (or hiding their faces) and wearing white tape stripes on both arms. In the same area, the SMM also saw four stationary armoured personnel carriers (APC) (one at each location) in Kotelnykova (BTR-variant), Lermontova Street (BTR-variant), Kotelnykova Street (BTR-80), and at Polskoho Street (BTR-70).

During the morning of 22 November, 20m south of the intersection of Radianska and Lermontova Streets, the SMM observed at least four military-type trucks (with no licence plates), an APC (BTR-variant) and five unidentified armed persons wearing military-style clothes and wearing white tape stripes on both arms. They denied the SMM passage south through Lermontova Street.

From the afternoon of 21 November until the evening of 22 November, the SMM also noticed that there was no radio nor TV signals available in the hotels where the SMM is accommodated.

The SMM has taken additional security and operational measures, such as recalling staff to base early on 21 November and maintaining restricted patrolling on both 21 and 22 November.