A pro-Russian activist checks cars at a checkpoint outside Schastya, 25 km from the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk. Photo: Reuters

Human rights violations have escalated in eastern Ukraine and serious problems are emerging in Crimea, United Nations monitors said in a report released yesterday.

The 34-strong UN monitoring mission’s report, which covered the period from April 2 to May 6 and which Russia criticised as politically motivated, said police and local authorities in eastern Ukraine connived in illegal acts and the takeover of towns by armed groups, undermining the rule of law.

The UN findings echoed a statement published on Monday by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, whose experts had identified “a significant number of serious human rights violations” during a visit to Ukraine in March.

Ukraine is preparing to hold presidential elections on May 25 and the UN monitors said a fair and democratic ballot would be an important factor in helping to calm the situation. But several candidates had reported intimidation and attacks and the monitoring mission said it had concerns about their security.

Report mentions wave of abductions and unlawful detentions

“Those with influence on the armed groups responsible for much of the violence in eastern Ukraine [must] do their utmost to rein in these men who seem bent on tearing the country apart,” UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said in a statement accompanying the report.

The UN report also cited a “wave of abductions and unlawful detentions” of journalists, activists, politicians, representatives of international bodies and members of the military.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the report lacked any semblance of objectivity, and accused its authors of following “political orders” to whitewash the pro-Western leadership.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said the OSCE report did not support Russia’s contention that the rights of Ukraine’s Russian minority were being violated.

“There is atmosphere of intimidation and discrimination, many people in Ukraine are suffering potentially life-threatening legal problems if they don’t take up Russian citizenship,” Seibert told a news conference.