The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is trying to get to the bottom of reports that Russian forces have commandeered their vehicles in Ukraine presumably for military purposes, but have been ignored by Russian officials.
OSCE has launched two fact-finding missions during earlier stages of the war in Ukraine, but Russia, which is one of the 57 countries that are a part of the international organization, vetoed the third and most recent attempt for such a mission. When the special monitoring mission was evacuated during the war, some of them took their vehicles with the OSCE insignia on them to Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and took the keys with them.
INTERNATIONAL GROUP SAYS VEHICLES WITH ITS INSIGNIA IN UKRAINE ARE FAKE
Videos and images appeared on social media on Jan. 15 appearing to show OSCE-branded vehicles being transported on trucks through the Russian Federation border checkpoint of Izvaryne into the Luhansk region of Ukraine.
“Those vehicles were sitting there for many, many months up until recent,” U.S. Ambassador to OSCE Michael Carpenter told the Washington Examiner in an interview, adding, “And my understanding is that in the last maybe few weeks, although the timeline is fuzzy, these vehicles have been essentially stolen directly by Russian authorities, and are even some reports that they have showed up on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine.”
When the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission fled Ukraine it abandoned dozens of armored vehicles at a train station parking lot in Russia and took the keys, officials told me. Video posted by a Russian military blogger now shows them on flatbed trucks crossing back into the Donbas. pic.twitter.com/rTfJYsEMfs
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) January 15, 2023
Russia essentially stole vehicles that it and the other OSCE members paid for as a part of an initial field mission that it had agreed to previously, Carpenter added, calling such behavior “beyond the pale,” in addition to the entirety of the war, which he described as “appalling and atrocious.”
Additionally, three OSCE individuals were arrested in Donetsk and in Luhansk in eastern Ukraine by Russian forces in April and have not been freed.
“I also want to accentuate the fact that you know, Russian proxies or Russian forces are holding in detention three national staff members meeting Ukrainians who worked for the special monitoring mission,” he explained. “So again, three individuals who worked for a mission that Russia supported, and that Russia, in fact, funded, although it hasn’t paid his bills, are being detained or held hostage by Russia’s proxies, that’s just simply unacceptable.”
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OSCE Secretary General General Helga Maria Schmid’s team has inquired to the Russian government via diplomatic notes eight times requesting the vehicles be returned and yet, they have “simply declined to respond.” Her office has also been involved in demanding the release of the three OSCE workers being detained, but those too have gone ignored.
“As I understand it, Russia has not been forthcoming at all, and has not made any moves whatsoever to either ascertain their location or their health and welfare,” Carpenter said.
