How Russian and Belarusian media lie about Ukrainians "seizing" the OSCE mission

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Antifake / Factcheck

11 March 2022
Fake news of the week: How Russian and Belarusian media lie about Ukrainians "seizing" the OSCE mission

On 1 March, the Russian press spread information that the OSCE mission had left Donetsk and Ukrainian nationalists had seized it. It was reported by the Russian state news agency

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On 1 March, the Russian press spread information that the OSCE mission had left Donetsk and Ukrainian nationalists had seized it. It was reported by the Russian state news agency:

"The DNR said that Ukrainian nationalists in Kramatorsk seized about 20 OSCE SMM vehicles, and the fate of the mission staff remains unknown," RIA Novosti reported.

The same news is on the Belarusian TV channel ONT:

"According to the latest reports, Ukrainian nationalist formations have seized about 20 vehicles of the OSCE special monitoring mission. Nothing is known about their fate yet."

The following is how Olga Skabeeva reported  the news on the "Russia-1" channel:

"Breaking news from Donbass. Ukrainian nationalists have seized about 20 vehicles of the OSCE special monitoring mission. The fate of the staff who were in those vehicles is still unknown. This is stated by a representative of the Donetsk militia. There is almost no doubt that the seized vehicles will be used for provocations".

The news turned out to be fake. And here is the proof. Not only did the OSCE website not confirm the kidnapping, but they posted a message that the group was safe and sound.

"On 1 March, the Monitoring Teams from Donetsk and Luhansk Patrol Hubs in non-government controlled areas were evacuated, while the Kharkiv Monitoring Team was withdrawn to Dnipro, pending onward movement out of the country. The SMM Monitoring Team in Kherson remains sheltered in place. The Chief Monitor and senior management will remain in Ukraine until the evacuation process is complete."

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