Spot report by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM): Member of armed formations points rifle at SMM in Smile

This report is for the media and the general public.

At 10:50 on 13 August, an SMM patrol consisting of five members and two armoured vehicles arrived at a logistical compound on the western edge of Smile (non-government-controlled, 31km north-west of Luhansk). The SMM saw two stationary covered cargo trucks (KAMAZ) outside the compound and 15 men, seven of whom were armed (AK variants), standing between the trucks and the compound’s gate. Two patrol members stepped out of the SMM vehicles and walked to the compound’s gate to meet with a member of the armed formations there. At the same time one of the trucks left. When the two SMM patrol members were passing the other stationary truck, on their way to the gate, one of the men (in his forties) positioned himself next to that truck, about four metres from the SMM vehicles, and disengaged the safety of the rifle (AK-variant) he was holding close to his body at a waist level. The man watched the SMM vehicles for the rest of its stay. At 11:03, when the SMM was leaving the area, it saw the man dropping on his knee and pointing the rifle towards the departing SMM vehicles. At that time the vehicles were approximately five metres from him. The patrol arrived safely at its base in Luhansk city at 12:02.