News and press releases

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and the work of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC). Ukrainian Border Guard representatives in the Kherson region told the SMM that train connections to Crimea have been suspended.

VIENNA, 30 December 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on the authorities in the Russian Federation to do their utmost to prevent the shutdown of the regional broadcaster TV-2’s terrestrial broadcasts on 1 January 2015 and subsequent loss of a broadcasting license.

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and the work of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC). There were bomb explosions in Kherson and Odessa. The Lviv mayor’s residence was attacked and hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

VIENNA, 29 December 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović urged the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina today to do their utmost to stop persecuting journalists and to respect their right to protect their sources, following a raid by the police on the offices of Klix.ba in Sarajevo and subsequent detention of key staff...

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and the work of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC). The SMM monitored the simultaneous release of hostages/prisoners in Yasynuvata (18km North-East of Donetsk city).

Bern, December 26, 2014 – Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE-Chairperson-in-Office, Didier Burkhalter, expressed his expectation that the meeting between the Trilateral Contact Group (consisting of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the OSCE Chairmanship) and representatives of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, scheduled for today in Minsk, would take place without further delay. He took note that this meeting, which had been planned as a follow-up to the Minsk meeting of December 24, has not come about as yet.

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Minsk Memorandum and the work of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC). The SMM observed a destroyed railway bridge in Mariupol, apparently caused by an explosive device.