Russia steals some 50 OSCE SUVs, ships them to occupied Donbas - Tsymbaliuk

Russia stole nearly 50 OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s vehicles and transported them to the occupied areas in eastern Ukraine.

That’s according to Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna, who spoke at the special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“Criminal Moscow regime went further and committed another crime against the OSCE, having stolen around 50 OSCE SMM vehicles.  These vehicles reportedly were transferred by Russia to the temporary occupied territory in eastern Ukraine last weekend,” the diplomat said.

It is likely that due to Russia feeling its impunity, “today we have to address the issue of possible provocation with the use of OSCE vehicles in Donbas.”

As reported, on January 16, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe stated that they retain no physical presence in Donbas and no vehicles with OSCE identification marks are used there for the OSCE purposes.

Journalist Andrii Tsaplienko previously published a photo, allegedly taken an eyewitness near the Izvarine checkpoint, which shows trailers carrying Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs with OSCE markings, being transported into the occupied area of Ukraine from Russia.