News and press releases

The negative effects of obstacles to accessing legal personality for religious or belief communities, both at the legislative and practical levels, were the focus of an event organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on 29 September 2015.

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall cross-border traffic increased at both BCPs. A thirty-eighth Russian Convoy crossed the Donetsk BCP...

The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Its monitoring was restricted by the parties and security considerations*. The situation remained largely calm in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions with only sparse ceasefire violations recorded by the SMM. The SMM observed considerable queues of civilian vehicles waiting at checkpoints to cross both into government-controlled and non-government controlled areas...

The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Its monitoring was restricted by the parties and security considerations*. The situation remained largely calm in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions with several ceasefire violations recorded by the SMM. The SMM followed up on a fatal accident in “DPR”-controlled Torez.

The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Its monitoring was restricted by the parties and security considerations*. The SMM recorded some ceasefire violations and continued spotting heavy weapons both in Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The majority of international humanitarian organizations operating in “LPR”-controlled areas of Luhansk region were told to leave before the weekend. The SMM observed concentrations of tanks at a few training sites in areas not controlled by the government...

KYIV, 25 September 2015 – The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) was today honoured for its work in facilitating access to the crash site of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine as it received an award for its service to Australia. The award was delivered to the head of the SMM, Chief Monitor Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan by Australia’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Doug Trappett.

On 24 September 2015 at 07:10hrs (Moscow time), a Russian convoy arrived at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). A total of 64 vehicles were checked by the Russian border guard and customs services. All the vehicles had crossed back into the Russian Federation by 17:23hrs on 24 September...