The OSCE Moscow Mechanism mission of experts undertaken by Professor Hervé Ascensio, Professor Veronika Bílková and Professor Mark Klamberg presented their findings to the OSCE Permanent Council on 25 September 2025, collected in the report entitled 'Report on Possible Violations and Abuses of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, Related to the Treatment of Ukrainian POWs by the Russian Federation'.
The three experts were selected after 41 OSCE participating States, following consultation with Ukraine, invoked the OSCE's Moscow Mechanism on 24 July 2025 to "build upon previous findings, and: [t]o establish the facts and circumstances surrounding possible contraventions of relevant OSCE commitments; violations and abuses of human rights; and violations of IHL, including possible cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity, related to the treatment of Ukrainian POWs by the Russian Federation; [t]o collect, consolidate, and analyze this information including to determine if there is a pattern of widespread and systematic torture, ill-treatment and execution of Ukrainian POWs and soldiers hors de combat and/or at detention facilities by the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories and in Russia; and [t]o offer recommendations on relevant accountability mechanisms".
The Mechanism, established by all OSCE participating States in 1991, allows for one or more participating States to request ODIHR to "inquire of another participating State whether it would agree to invite a mission of experts to address a particular, clearly defined question on its territory relating to the human dimension".
The Permanent Council is one of the OSCE's main decision-making bodies, and convenes each week in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and make decisions on future activities.
