OSCE mission spy affairs in favor of Russia

OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine spy affairs in favor of Russia – an investigation by the German TV channel ARD.

In Germany, a scandal broke out after an investigation of the German TV channel ARD on the OSCE mission in Ukraine. In particular, it refers to espionage in favor of Russia in the OSCE special monitoring mission (OSCE SMM).

The investigation was made public on the ARD channel‘s website on the evening of July 16 and was broadcasted on July 17, 2018.

The journalists got their hands on a storage device containing the internal documents of OSCE SMM. Including data on the location of surveillance cameras and characteristics of mission members, containing personal data starting from phone numbers to the blood types.

In the files describing personal characteristics of OSCE mission members, for example, there are indications that one of the members of the OSCE SSM loves young girls and entertainments. Another loves money and tries to earn as much as possible. And the third is often drunk in the hotel, once missed his patrol because of this.

At the same time, ARD correspondents says they got a copy of what had previously fallen into the hands of an FSB employee of Russia. Such internal data of OSCE mission in Ukraine was transferred to the FSB by someone from the mission staff.

Oleksandr Hug, head of the OSCE SMM to Ukraine, told the press that the investigation would be conducted. Incidentally, among the files that fell into the hands of journalists, there was a dossier on him as well.

On the day of the investigation, the OSCE SMM gave a comment on scandal material of German journalists in a statement on its official website.

“The mission is concerned with any possible security breach and intends to thoroughly examine all applications in accordance with established procedures,” the statement said.

The OSCE SMM to Ukraine noted that from the very beginning of its activities, SMM did everything necessary to implement appropriate data protection measures, as well as to confront various cyber attacks.

“Without due verification, the OSCE SMM can not comment or make any assumptions about documents of unknown origin. However, the Mission is worried that potential penetration could be a potential risk for its employees, endangering the privacy of their personal information and their security, “the statement said.

The OSCE SMM to Ukraine began its work on March 21, 2014, on the basis of a request from the Government of Ukraine to the OSCE and a consensus decision of all 57 OSCE participating States. The total mission is about 700 people. OSCE SMM is an unarmed civilian mission. Its main tasks are to observe and report on the situation in Ukraine impartially and objectively, and to promote dialogue between all parties to the conflict.

EMPR

Image credits: milnavigator

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