woodpeck, «regarding closed roads»


This road is not closed. This is reflected by the geometry of the road and the absence of barriers blocking passage. It is illegal to drive or pass on this road. This is about the "access" tag https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:access: "For describing the legal accessibility of a feature. Show/edit corresponding data item."


«we usually invoke our "on the ground policy", and we frequently ask complainants to show us proof that there are signs (or fences, or gates) at the location that say a road is closed (or reserved for private use etc.).»


OSM wiki is recommended to use the appropriate tag for gates https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier=gate, for fences https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier=fence.
The essence of the "access" tag is not the presence of barriers, gates, fences or signs (there are appropriate tags for them), but the legality and the presence or absence of the need to obtain a use, pass or driveway permit. In any case, you will see signs and designation that you cross the state border, nearby, but already in the territory of the Russian Federation.


If an area is not controlled by the government, laws are probably not enforced there — that's a fact. Laws and legal restrictions will not always be displayed on the ground  — it is not an entity that has a material form. OSM has legal limits that are not posted with signs everywhere, such as the default maximum speed limit in a particular country.


This restrictions are for the general public. The vast majority of people living in this area are well aware of these restrictions and make their own decision to violate the law after 05.06.2014 (at this checkpoint) or not, however, marking this road as "access=yes", where it is explicitly stated that there are no restrictions for the general public, or something different from "access=no" — fraught with administrative or criminal liability for all citizens using for passage these OSM datas with "access=yes" at these "highway=*". I think making the markup such that it promotes breaking the law, especially criminal articles, is not good practice for OSM.


«Am I right in assuming that, were I to visit this border crossing, I would find no signs that prohibit a border crossing, and I would see many people crossing this border without being stopped by anybody?»


I'm not at this border crossing 24/7, however at the time when I was near this place after 05.06.2014, where one could observe what was happening at this border crossing — the passage was not free, but was carried out by permission of illegal armed groups. Whether it happens to everyone or not is unknown to me, and probably unknown to no one, since no law works there. However, given the feedback from people who have broken the law to cross the border at this location, in the vast majority of cases it is the illegal armed groups who give permission to pass at their discretion.


«Am I right in assuming that, even though this area is not currently controlled by Ukraine and people may cross freely, if someone were filmed crossing this border and the person would later find themselves in an Ukrainian-controlled area, they could be subject to criminal proceedings for illegal border crossing?»


Yes, in general, illegal border crossing is an administrative offense, if it is proved. There are already a lot of court decisions on bringing to justice persons who crossed the border at this and other closed border crossing points. However, crossing the border can be moved by certain goods, weapons, military equipment, it can be crossed by persons who are in the state or international wanted list such as Interpol, or to which the entry is prohibited — these actions fall under dozens of articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and several have already been issued Dozens of decisions to bring persons to criminal liability, where the key factor is the illegal intersection of the state border. Not only video recordings are used as evidence. If necessary, I will provide examples of these court decisions or provide a link to a search site where you can review them yourself