DPR court sentences OSCE assistant to 14 years for espionage
A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has sentenced Vadim Golda, an assistant for the security of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE in Ukraine, to 14 years in a high-security penal colony. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has confirmed his conviction for espionage (Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code).
According to the Prosecutor General's statement, in 2021, Golda, while in the DPR, conducted reconnaissance activities on behalf of a foreign intelligence service. He gathered information on industrial facilities, which were subsequently targeted in missile strikes, causing damage amounting to nearly 100 million roubles.
The court also ordered the confiscation of 43 armoured vehicles used by OSCE mission staff.
Vadim Golda, a 56-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was detained in April 2022 shortly after the DPR authorities banned the OSCE mission's operations. The mission’s members were instructed to leave the DPR territory by the end of April.