News and press releases

VIENNA, 17 November 2017 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today expressed concern about the decision of the Ukrainian authorities to significantly cut the funding of public service broadcaster’s activities...

ERGNETI, 16 November 2017- On 16 November 2017, the 82nd Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held in Ergneti. Erik Hoeeg, Acting Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) and Ambassador Guenther Baechler, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus, co-facilitated the event...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations but more explosions in Donetsk region compared with the previous reporting period. It recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM camera at the Donetsk filtration station recorded a round exploding very close to the camera. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Petrivske disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including near Kreminets.* The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in Shymshynivka and Bohoiavlenka. It facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure in Shchastia, Vesela Hora and Novozvanivka. The Mission visited three border areas outside of the control of the government. The SMM followed up on media reports that a car belonging to the Consul General of the Russian Federation Consulate in Kharkiv had been damaged...

VIENNA, 16 November 2017 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today expressed his concern about a series of measures by the United States of America and the Russian Federation requiring the media entities from other countries to register themselves as “foreign agents”...

A ceremony in Podgorica on 15 November 2017 saw 120 displaced vulnerable families who had been living in a container settlement in the Konik Camp presented with keys to new homes financed by the Regional Housing Programme and supported by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro.

MINSK, 15 November 2017 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Martin Sajdik, delivered the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its Working Groups in Minsk on 15 November 2017:

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Stanytsia Luhanska and Petrivske disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere.* The SMM observed weapons in violations of the withdrawal lines near Berestove and Orlivka. It facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure in Shchastia and Artema, and near Zalizne, Stanytsia Luhanska and Vesela Hora. It visited two border areas not under government control...