Mystery of missing OSCE cars: what does Russia say? Man pees on woman on plane Air India – airline must pay

The dispute over dozens of OSCE armored vehicles is entering the next round: after it became known that Russia had brought abandoned vehicles from Russia to the war zone and that they could possibly be used there, the OSCE is demanding clarification.

A statement sent to t-online on Friday said the OSCE had sent a formal request to Russia’s permanent delegation to the OSCE asking Russia to make a statement on the whereabouts of the vehicles.

Germany’s Secretary General, Helga Maria Schmid, reported on the disappearance of the cars at the most recent meeting of the Permanent Council. Because the OSCE is no longer present in the areas, it cannot independently verify the physical location of the vehicles.

The EU speaks of a total of 50 vehicles. It is “disturbing” that the Toyota Land Cruisers could be deployed in eastern Ukraine in support of Russia’s war of aggression. “This is unacceptable,” said Lithuanian Rasa Ostrauskaite, EU representative to the OSCE. Russia must “return all OSCE assets to their rightful owners, the OSCE and its participating states.”

OSCE values ​​attacked

The country has also attacked the founding principles and values ​​of the OSCE over the past 11 months. The EU is also demanding the release of three mission staff held illegally on “dubious charges”. They are accused of espionage by the pro-Russian separatists in Donbass.

Russia is a member of the OSCE, but now describes the organization as dominated by the West and predicts its end. Russia’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich, has not yet commented on the disappearance of the vehicles.

The OSCE still does not confirm the number of cars. However, she now gives more details about why the vehicles were still in Rostov-on-Don according to her own account. According to information from t-online, there were no detailed plans for an evacuation, although the conflict had escalated before February 24, 2022. The OSCE states that the safest and fastest evacuation route from the separatist areas at the time was to Russia.

Russia does not return cars

After the ride, employees were able to continue in column to Rostov-on-Don, but the vehicles were stopped “for clearance”. Since then, the OSCE has been working “continuously” with the Russian Federation to recover the vehicles. Meanwhile, the Secretary-General has also intervened. But: “The Russian Federation had not yet authorized the OSCE to take back its property.”

The vehicles were parked on the top deck of a parking garage and local media had described the situation as a nuisance. A week ago, photos surfaced of vehicles being hoisted down by crane and loaded onto car transporters. Additional footage showed the vehicles at a checkpoint on the border between the self-declared Republic of Lugansk and Russia.

According to corresponding representations in Telegram channels and on a page of the information portal of the “People’s Republic of Lugansk”, the vehicles are said to have been passed on to fighters. So far there is no confirmation that this is actually the case. However, pro-Russian activists speak of a “gift from Europe” for the Russian troops.