Russia Sentences OSCE Employees To 14 Years In Prison For Spying On Donetsk

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - A court set up by Russia in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, sentenced an Organizational employee to 14 years in prison for European Security and Cooperation on charges of spying for foreign intelligence agencies.

Russian Attorney General said Vadym Golda in 2021 collected information about the industrial location in the Donetsk region which was then used to direct missile attacks on the province.

Vienna-based OSCE said its leaders firmly condemned the sentence and called for the release of Golda and two other former OSCE employees jailed by Russia in 2022.

The OSCE, an intergovernmental organization of 57 countries that includes Russia, Ukraine, and many Western countries, has deployed a monitoring mission to eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2022.

Its employees were tasked with monitoring a series of fragile ceasefires between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatist groups, and were withdrawn shortly after Russia's massive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.