OSCE officials in Donbas convicted of espionage for the CIA

 OSCE officials in Donbas convicted of espionage for the CIA

20.09.2022

Author:Objectively

Dmytro Shabanov worked as an associate in the OSCE mission in Donbass.

The Supreme Court of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) convicted two employees of the mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for treason - espionage for the benefit of a foreign country.

In two separate cases, a translator from the mission, Maxim Petrov, and another associate, Dmytro Shabanov, were found guilty of treason. Each was sentenced to 13 years in prison.According to the Luhansk State Security Service, Petrov collected information on the movement of military equipment and weapons, working directly for the CIA. Shabanov, according to the indictment, also cooperated with a foreign intelligence service. The cases were heard in closed court and the exact circumstances of the betrayal remain unknown.

The head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, banned the OSCE mission in the separatist republic back in April. He explained that during the conflict between the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics in Donbass and Ukraine, which began in 2014, the mission never contributed to the peace process, did not register numerous violations by Kyiv and became known as the "blind observers'.