OSCE sees no weaponry crossing from Russia into Ukraine

The head of a European monitoring mission confirms that no weaponry or people bearing arms have crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border during nearly a year of observations.

Paul Picard, the chief of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), made remarks at a press conference in Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don.

“We have not seen any military equipment crossing the Donetsk or Gukovo checkpoints,” Picard said, adding, the OSCE observers have also “never seen people crossing the border with weapons. The border guard and customs strictly watch over this.”

However, unarmed people, some of them calling themselves “volunteers,” have been crossing the border in both directions on a daily basis, Picard noted. According to the OSCE chief, some of these men bore various types of insignia, including those of the self-proclaimed Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Picard also pointed out that some 2.9 million people have crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border during the year observation.

“From September 1 through August 4, we have observed 21,309 of these types of people crossing the border, that’s 63 per day or 441 per week, of which 94 percent are crossing the Donetsk checkpoint,” said the OSCE chief, noting, “This flow is continuing, but it has become less.”