OSCE urges states not to pay ransoms to free hostages OSCE chairman and Swiss President Didier Burkhalter on Monday urged nations to refrain from paying ransoms to free hostages, insisting the cash only fuels more kidnappings. He also blasted the hostage taking of a group of international monitors from the OSCE in Ukraine as "unacceptable" and stressed that they was doing everything in their power to ensure the hostages safe return. Images and soundbites