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VIDEO: Jagland doing press-ups in Donetsk

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VIDEO: Jagland doing press-ups in Donetsk
Thorbjørn Jagland doing press-ups near Donetsk. Photo: Screen grab/YouTube

Here's a video of Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe and Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, dropping to the tarmac and doing push-ups while waiting at a checkpoint in Ukraine.

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The video, uploaded on June 6th, was taken while Jagland was trying to negotiate the release of twelve observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) who had been taken hostage by pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk. 
 
"It was taken in quite dramatic circumstances," Jagland told Aftenposten. 
 
He was travelling into Donetsk alongside Sergei Taruta, the region's official governor and Vladimir Lutin, a Russian official he knows well, in the hope of securing the release of the observers. 
 
But the party was blocked at the border of the rebel-controlled territory, with only Lutin allowed through. 
 
"So we were standing there waiting, while we heard dramatic fighting in the background," Jagland said.
 
"Taruta then asked whether we should do some gymnastics to shorten the wait. And so we did. I had no idea it had been filmed." 
 
The situation ended happily with the hostages being released and delivered to Jagland at the checkpoint. 

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