Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine sentenced two employees of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to 13 years in jail on treason charges, Russian news agencies reported Monday.
In April, authorities in Lugansk announced the arrest of two OSCE staffers Dmitry Shabanov and Maxim Petrov for alleged espionage.
"The judges found Dmitry Shabanov guilty... and sentenced him to 13 years in prison," the RIA Novosti news agency reported, quoting the Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic.
A few hours later, the court propnounced the same sentence on Petrov.
According to separatist authorities, Shabanov was recruited in 2016 by a former officer of Ukraine's SBU security service and an agent of the US Central Intelligence Agency.
Between August 2021 and April 2022, he collected "information on the movements of military equipment as well as units of the Lugansk People's Army" and "sent them to the CIA agent", the separatists said.
The OSCE "unequivocally" condemned the sentences as "totally unacceptable so-called 'legal proceedings'"
OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid on Monday demanded their immediate release as well as that of another unnamed colleague being held.
"Our colleagues remain OSCE staff members and had been performing official duties as mandated by all 57 participating states," Schmid said. "I call for their immediate and unconditional release."
The Vienna-based OSCE, whose members include Russia and Ukraine, added the organisation would "pursue all available channels to secure the privileges and immunities of current and former OSCE officials."
The OSCE mission to which the two men belonged and which has been deployed in the conflict zone since 2014, left the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk after Russia's offensive in Ukraine earlier this year.
