OSCE expresses concern over Russia’s civilian ‘filtering camps’

The OECD has expressed “grave concern” about Moscow’s treatment of Ukrainian civilians in “filtering camps” set up to identify those with alleged ties to the Kiev authorities, according to a report due to be released today.

“According to eyewitnesses”, this process “includes harsh interrogations and humiliating body searches”, write the three authors of document number 115, which was accessed by AFP, speaking of a “disturbing” development.

Ukrainians evacuated from besieged cities, such as the strategic port of Mariupol, or those fleeing territories occupied by Russian troops are forced to go to these centers.

“Their personal data is recorded, their fingerprints are taken and their identity documents are copied,” says the report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The purpose is apparently to determine whether these people fought on the Ukrainian side or have connections with the Azov battalion or the Ukrainian authorities.

“If this is the case, these people are separated from the rest and often simply disappear,” said the experts, two of whom traveled to Ukraine in June to complete their multi-source work.

“Some are transferred” to the separatist self-proclaimed regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, “where they are detained and even killed,” it added, “a practice that suggests Russia is using these two entities to circumvent its international obligations.”

Those who pass the ‘test’ are “often sent to Russia”, “with or without their consent”.

Once there, they are promised work and free accommodation. They are of course free to move, but “often do not have enough information, money or a phone” to be able to leave the country, the report notes.

Kyiv has been denouncing for several weeks “deportations” of at least one million Ukrainians, while Moscow assures for its part that its sole purpose is to allow civilians to “remove” from “dangerous zones”.

There are “about 20 such structures,” estimates Yevhenil Tsybaliuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to the OSCE, whose statements are quoted in the document.

This is the second OSCE report since the start of the war under the so-called “Moscow” mechanism, with which Russia has refused to cooperate. Referring to the period from April to June, it confirms the revelation of “gross violations of rights” that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The OSCE, created in 1975 at the heart of the Cold War to encourage East-West dialogue, had undertaken a similar initiative in 2018 to look into crimes in Chechnya against LGBTI+ people, or again in 2020, after the falsified elections and repression in Belarus.