Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reported on November 9 that Russian authorities transferred Vadym Golda, a detained OSCE employee, to a medical correctional facility in Tambov Oblast. This move reportedly places his physical and mental health at "an even more serious risk." The transfer makes Golda the third Ukrainian OSCE staff member moved from occupied territory to Russia, which Sybiha stated violates the Geneva Conventions. He warned that these actions may amount to war crimes, continuing a series of grave violations against the three men.
Legal status and detention history
Golda worked for the OSCE’s former Special Monitoring Mission and has been held by Russian authorities since 2022. A Russian-controlled court in occupied Donetsk sentenced him to 14 years in prison on espionage charges in July 2024. According to the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group, he last contacted his family on October 15 after warning them about reports of detainee transfers to Siberia. His whereabouts remained unknown until this latest information emerged. The other two detainees, Dmytro Shabanov and Maksym Petrov, received 13-year sentences for treason in September 2022 from authorities in occupied Luhansk Oblast. Both were subsequently transferred to prisons in Russia in 2025, with Shabanov held in Omsk Oblast and Petrov in Chelyabinsk Oblast.
Diplomatic response and verification efforts
Sybiha called on the OSCE Secretary General and Switzerland, which holds the rotating chairmanship, to urgently verify the detainees’ whereabouts and secure their release. Ukraine will also raise the issue at the OSCE Permanent Council. The minister emphasized that all three staff members must be freed immediately. "All three OSCE SMM staff members – Dmytro Shabanov, Maksym Petrov and Vadym Golda – must be finally freed. Now," he wrote. The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify Golda’s location independently. This reported transfer highlights the ongoing legal and humanitarian concerns surrounding the three men, who have faced multiple jurisdictional shifts and severe isolation from their families over the past four years.
