VIENNA (Sputnik) — OSCE monitors are registering high-level of military preparedness shown by conflicting sides along the contact line in eastern Ukraine, Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Alexander Hug, said Friday.
"What we clearly see is that both sides are highly militarily prepared at the moment, and this preparedness is a military activity in itself," Hug told RIA Novosti.
According to Hug, the sides gather military hardware in assembly points, train their staff near the contact line, build sophisticated fortifications along the contact line, and mine approaches to their positions.
"That makes the entire crossing between the lines very difficult…so there is no real movement, the contact line does not move any longer," Hug said, adding that "preparedness does not mean attacking, because preparedness can be for defense or to hold."
