In July 2020, toward the start of the Covid pandemic and 2 years before the most recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, I was offered a job with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to work for the Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. The OSCE is a political and regional security organization that focuses on stability, peace, and democracy consisting of 57 states, of which the U.S. is a member, along with Russia and Ukraine. The SMM, now closed due to the conflict, was an unarmed, civilian mission operating on the ground in Ukraine. Its main tasks were to observe and report in an impartial and objective manner on the security situation in Ukraine and to facilitate dialogue among all parties to the conflict — Ukraine, Russia (although it denied being a party to the conflict), and Russian-backed separatist groups in Eastern Ukraine in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. OSCE was essentially tasked with monitoring implementation of the Minsk agreements that aimed at ending the conflict in 2014 in Eastern Ukraine between Ukraine and the separatist movements.
My job was acting as the head of the reporting and political analysis section in the Donetsk region, including the separatist-controlled area of the Donetsk People’s Republic, or DPR, along with other Eastern regions still controlled by Ukraine at the time around the Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Mariupol. I was based in non-Ukrainian controlled Donetsk. Each day approximately 25 OSCE patrols would drive throughout the Donetsk region and document violations of the Minsk and related agreements, often ceasefire violations, large military equipment that was prohibited, or any attempted offensive movements including forward movement of troops or offensive engineering positions, as well as human rights or humanitarian concerns. My staff included former military officers and human rights lawyers. Our section would issue daily and weekly reports documenting the security situation and ceasefire and other Minsk agreement violations, human rights or humanitarian concerns, and issue periodic early warning reports. We noticed restrictions on freedom of speech, property rights, freedom of movement, extensive mines, and damage to civilian property. We also heard stories of arbitrary arrests or illegal detentions of people. The conflict separated families residing in both Ukraine-controlled and separatist-controlled territory, and caused widespread property destruction and poverty, as well as civilian casualties from mines and shooting.
During the 2 years I worked in Donetsk it was clear that Russia and the separatist groups were not committed to the Minsk agreements. Russia was issuing Russian passports to local Donetsk residents so they could vote in Russian elections, and holding academic conferences discussing the Russian Donbas doctrine that essentially denied that Ukraine was an independent state or that Ukrainian was a distinct language or culture, and noted that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was a tragedy that should be rectified. The main narrative of the Russian Donbas doctrine is the alleged “tragedy” of the Russian people. Under the doctrine, this group is viewed not as a singular ethno-linguistic group, but rather a wider regional community with common social, civic, economic, and political rights. It includes the idea that the post-Cold War order has separated the centuries-long social, political, human, cultural, economic, scientific, infrastructural, and technological links of the Russian World. The collapse of the USSR and the creation of independent states in the 1990s is viewed as historically unfair, tragic, and irrational.
DPR government officials enacted laws that banned books promoting Ukrainian nationalism or Ukrainian as a distinct culture. On a daily basis, the OSCE observed large, prohibited military equipment, shooting, new trenches, and offensive military fortifications in violation of the ceasefire agreement. We also observed violations of property rights and expropriation of the property of displaced persons in violation of the European Convention of Human Rights and related UN treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Also, unlawful detention and torture likely occurred in the Russian-controlled separatist regions.
On a personal level, it was a very interesting experience. Having heard of good skiing in Western Ukraine in the Carpathian Mountains, I brought my skis to Ukraine. It was a bit surreal dragging my skis down the road in a heavily mined area between Ukrainian-controlled and separatist-controlled areas known as the contact line, and then trying to squeeze my skis into an armored OSCE vehicle as DPR soldiers lingered with AK-47s on their shoulders.
OSCE staff were essentially the only internationals allowed into DPR; there were no foreign embassies and only a few foreign citizens were granted entry. All OSCE staff resided in the four-star Park Inn, then a government-run hotel, though likely filled with Russian and DPR agents spying on the OSCE. Of interest in my interactions with Donetsk residents, I generally did not experience anti-Western sentiment. Most people seemed tired of the conflict and hoped for resolution of the war and a better economy and employment opportunities. However, I sensed some were hesitant to become too friendly for fear of angering DPR authorities.
I generally felt safe – there was little crime in Donetsk – though occasionally I wondered if I was abducted or arrested for political reasons as an American, how would I get out? I assumed my employer, the OSCE, or maybe the U.S. Embassy, might help. Also, when outside the city center, I saw signs of war, such as bombed-out buildings or property destruction, but never felt directly threatened by the conflict. The city of Donetsk had once been one of the nicest and wealthiest cities in Ukraine in part thanks to extensive mining reserves, especially coal, prior to the 2014 conflict.
One especially troubling and stressful incident occurred after a few likely Russian-directed agents were captured on Ukraine territory. Our hotel was surrounded by the police, DPR soldiers, and staged DPR “protesters” who argued the OSCE was too pro-Ukraine for several days, and we were subjected to loud Russian movies and music and could not leave the premises. Only after high-level negotiations for approximately one week were we again allowed freedom of movement in Donetsk territory.
Just before the Russian invasion in February 2022, American secondees (contracted employees) from the U.S. State Department to the OSCE were quickly evacuated from Ukraine. The infamous Wagner Group eventually resided in our Park Inn residence, and apparently went through our suitcases and engaged in anti-Western propaganda on DPR-controlled territory. Tragically, a few OSCE local staff in both Luhansk and Donetsk non-Ukraine controlled areas were arrested by DPR and Luhansk authorities and imprisoned on treason charges.
The current war in Ukraine can be viewed through the lens of these actions monitored by the OSCE. It appears that Russia was never truly serious about honoring the Minsk agreements or subsequent agreements aimed at resolving the conflict that started in 2014. Russia, it seems, has always had territorial aspirations in Ukraine. And, as usual in any conflict, it is the civilians who suffer most.
~ Mark L. Lasser is an attorney with Lasser Law Office in Truckee and San Francisco, currently working in Prishtina, Kosovo, for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on rule of law and human rights issues. The reflections here are in his personal capacity, and do not represent the views of the OSCE or U.S. government. Contact him through mlasser.com or law@mlasser.com.
