The Finnish Foreign Minister and current Chairperson of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Elina Valtonen, stated that the organization is in ongoing dialogue with Russia regarding the release of three of its Ukrainian staff members.
She made this remark in an interview with "Ukrinform", as reported by "European Truth".
Valtonen was asked how the OSCE could compel Russia to release the three organization employees who have been unlawfully detained by Moscow for nearly three years.
In response, Valtonen assured that the organization "maintains a constant dialogue with Russia on this matter" and is doing everything possible.
"As for me, I have only been in this position for two weeks and have not yet had the opportunity to speak with Russian representatives. Additionally, as the Foreign Minister of Finland, I do not have any political contacts with Russia," she stated.
She also mentioned that during her visit to Kyiv, she had the chance to meet with some family members of the Russian hostages.
"I can only imagine the pain they are experiencing and how disheartening it is for them that the organization has limited capacity for action. However, we are doing everything we can to secure their release and we will not cease our efforts," Valtonen added.
The three staff members in question are part of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission – Vadim Golde, Maksym Petrov, and Dmytro Shabanov. They were detained in April 2022 in the Russian-occupied cities of Donetsk and Luhansk while fulfilling their official duties under the mandate of all 57 OSCE participating states.
In September 2022, Maksym Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov were "sentenced" to 13 years of imprisonment by Russian occupation courts.
Back in February 2022, immediately after the onset of the large-scale war, the OSCE decided to activate the so-called Moscow Mechanism regarding the arbitrary detention of Ukrainian civilians by the Russian army and occupation administration in the occupied territories.
In the spring of 2023, 45 OSCE member states initiated the use of this mechanism to investigate the deportation of children from the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia.