Ukrainian army plotted terrorist attack on SMM to kill its Russian member

Ukrainian armed forces members plotted a terrorist attack aimed at a Russian employee of the OSCE SMM in the LPR, the press office of the State Security Ministry said.

Two members of the OSCE SMM have been detained earlier on suspicion of high treason. One of them has confessed to passing sensitive information to foreign special services, the Ministry's press office said.

"The investigation revealed the involvement of military personnel of the armed forces of Ukraine in organizing and committing a car bombing that resulted in the death of an employee of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in April 2017. The investigation established that, according to the plan of the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the terrorist attack was aimed at the physical elimination of a citizen of the Russian Federation from among the members of the mission," the report reads.

The LPR Head Leonid Pasechnik earlier banned the activities of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in the LPR

Joseph Stone, a U.S. citizen serving as a paramedic with the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, was killed on April 23, 2017 when his vehicle, armored Toyota B6 Land Cruiser, struck a mine outside Prishib. Two of Mr. Stone’s colleagues, a female from Germany and male from the Czech Republic, were seriously injured in the same blast. Stone's death is the only among OSCE monitors. *t