Exactly three years ago, on 15 April 2022, OSCE security assistant Dmytro Shabanov was detained in the Luhansk region. Late at night, masked men stormed into his home in Kadiivka (formerly Stakhanov) and dragged him out of bed. His colleague, OSCE interpreter Maksym Petrov, was arrested a day earlier on 14 April. Before his detention, Petrov expressed worry and helplessness, sensing he was being targeted. He didn’t leave the area, doubting his safety elsewhere. Soon after, the authorities came for him: armed forces broke into his apartment, forced him face down on the floor, and searched his home, allegedly looking for evidence of “working for foreign intelligence agencies.”
In September 2022, Maksym Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov were “sentenced to 13 years” for “treason” and “espionage for US intelligence.”
In April 2022, occupation media reported statements from Leonid Pasechnik under headlines like “LPR Bans OSCE Monitoring Mission Operations Starting 30 April”. These reports claimed mission staff were ordered to leave the “republic” by the end of the month, as monitoring activities would be prohibited thereafter.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) had suspended its mission in Ukraine on the day of Russia’s full-scale invasion, 24 February 2022. According to OSCE statements, international staff were evacuated from Ukraine, but national staff remained, including in occupied Luhansk and Donetsk.
In Donetsk, another OSCE SMM staff member, Vadym Holda, was detained on allegations of “espionage.”
Both Shabanov and Petrov, Ukrainian citizens, had worked with the mission in the occupied Luhansk region since the onset of the Russian occupation. As representatives of an international monitoring mission, they held documents granting them immunity.
Sentenced and Deported Deep into Russia
Dmytro Shabanov and Maksym Petrov remain unlawfully imprisoned three years later. Despite their OSCE immunity, both were accused of treason and sentenced to 13 years in prison by the so-called “Supreme Court of the LPR” on 19 September 2022. They were charged with allegedly being recruited by a CIA operative in Ukraine.
Dmytro was held in Krasnolutsk Correctional Colony No. 19, Vakhrusheve, and the Luhansk pre-trial detention centre.
In July 2022, occupation media released a video showing Dmytro being taken to Siverskodonetsk and brought into a ruined building, which was claimed to have been an OSCE office. “However, he never worked in that building,” said his wife, Margaryta. She described her husband’s terrible condition in the footage: “At the beginning of the video, a bag is removed from his head, and he struggles to open his eyes in the daylight. He appeared emaciated, with hollow cheeks and unhealthy skin. His t-shirt was torn.”
A similar “film” was made about Maksym Petrov. In a propaganda clip, Petrov allegedly admitted to gathering intelligence on the “LPR’s army” and passing it to OSCE staff member George Levitsky, a supposed American spy. Propagandists added a fabricated detail claiming the CIA promised Maksym “rapid career growth” but failed to deliver.
In January 2025, the sentences for Dmytro and Maksym were “aligned” with Russian criminal law, paving the way for their deportation to Russia. Ukrainian civilians convicted of “treason” are often sent to prisons in remote, harsh regions of Russia, where conditions are even more severe. The transfer process can take three to six months.
“They are neither Russian citizens nor citizens of the so-called ‘LPR.’ They never changed their passports or nationality. Nevertheless, they were convicted under laws that shouldn’t have applied to them,” explains lawyer Yevheniia Kapalkina, representing their families.
On 27 March 2025, Dmytro was transferred from Krasnolutsk Correctional Colony to an unknown location. By April, reports suggested he was being moved through transit detention centres in Rostov and Voronezh. His exact location and condition remain unknown. According to his lawyer, there’s a possibility he will be transferred to the Omsk region.
Maksym Petrov remains in Krasnolutsk Colony but is also at risk of deportation further into Russia.
Deporting Dmytro and Maksym to remote, high-security colonies poses a grave threat to their lives. In such prisons, detainees often lose all contact with the outside world, effectively “disappearing” within the Russian penal system. Both men suffer from health issues, and being sent to prisons known for harsh conditions and frequent human rights violations could prove fatal. Their families have no way to send medication to such remote locations.
The parents of both men are elderly and unable to travel such long distances. Dmytro’s wife also cannot visit him, as her safety cannot be guaranteed.
Maksym Petrov, who has serious health problems, has reported a further deterioration in his condition.
“Russia is doing this to maintain a pool of prisoners for potential exchanges and to spread out detainees convicted of treason across various colonies to prevent rebellions or other incidents,” Kapalkina concludes.
International Reaction and What Can Be Done
Despite statements of “concern” from several international organisations, including the OSCE and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, these appeals have yielded no tangible results.
The lack of enforcement mechanisms or coordinated diplomatic pressure has left these innocent men isolated and increasingly at risk.
This prolonged detention is not merely a personal tragedy but a direct challenge to the global system, one that is being effectively dismissed. Who is truly safe if civilians and OSCE representatives can be held without consequences for three years?
As long as Dmytro and Maksym remain in captivity, the viability of any peacekeeping initiatives or monitoring missions in Ukraine is fundamentally undermined. Any such mechanism must ensure the absolute safety of its personnel.
Lawyer Yevheniia Kapalkina explains that currently, there are no mechanisms for securing the release of Shabanov and Petrov. No international organisation will agree to operate in occupied territories if its staff can be arbitrarily detained on fabricated charges. This raises a crucial question: what steps is the international community willing to take to pressure Russia and demand their release?
“If we look specifically at the OSCE, we see that they are OSCE employees, members of an organisation comprising 57 countries, including Russia. The issue is that all decisions within the OSCE are made by consensus, and if one country—Russia—is the violator of international law, reaching that consensus becomes impossible,” Kapalkina points out.
She adds that discussions are underway about deploying peacekeeping missions to Ukraine. There is even the possibility of re-establishing an OSCE mission. However, the fact that mission staff remain unlawfully detained makes it impossible to provide any security guarantees for members of international missions.
