Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha met with a delegation of permanent representatives of 23 OSCE participating states, who are in Ukraine on July 20–23. The Ukrainian minister emphasized the need for the immediate release of Ukrainian employees of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, whom Russia took hostage in 2022. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as conveyed by UNN.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, met with a delegation of permanent representatives of 23 OSCE participating states, who are in Ukraine on July 20–23 on a solidarity visit. During the meeting with foreign representatives, Andrii Sybiha once again emphasized the need for the immediate release of Vadym Golda, Maksym Petrov, and Dmytro Shabanov — Ukrainian employees of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, whom Russia took hostage in 2022 and continues to illegally hold in captivity.
Andrii Sybiha stated: "It is especially important to me that one of the meetings in the three-day program of the delegation from Vienna will be a meeting with the relatives of our three boys. Their release is a matter of honor for the OSCE."
Sybiha also emphasized that mistakes made in the past within the OSCE must be honestly analyzed today so that they are not repeated tomorrow.
This is how real security partnership and trust work. And it is equally critical to make maximum use of all OSCE mechanisms that Russia cannot block today. These are important human rights tools. But the Organization's potential is much greater. Effectiveness requires ambition.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mariana Betsa, who, in particular, noted the importance of using OSCE human rights mechanisms aimed at documenting Russia's violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Ukraine.
The work of the missions of independent experts of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, as well as the ODIHR reports, are an unconditional confirmation of the OSCE's ability to effectively respond to Russian aggression, as well as to contribute to the recording and documentation of large-scale and systematic crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.
In turn, the Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the OSCE, Ambassador Raphael Nageli, as a representative of the Chairmanship on behalf of all members of the delegation, emphasized that the OSCE will remain an important platform for supporting Ukraine and will continue to use all available mechanisms to respond to the common challenges caused by Russia's war.
The meeting was attended by ambassadors and deputy heads of delegations from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Germany, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland.
Recall
The so-called "court" in occupied Donetsk sentenced former security assistant of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission Vadym Golda to 14 years in a strict regime colony on charges of espionage (Article 276 of the Criminal Code).