News and press releases

The SMM observed a number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It observed gunfire damage to a school. The Mission continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons. The SMM observed long lines at checkpoints close to the contact line...

Elections experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) met with electoral stakeholders in Yerevan on 18 and 19 February 2016 to present recommendations from the final report on the 6 December 2015 constitutional referendum in Armenia.

International standards and good practices in introduction of new voting technologies (NVT) were the focus of an expert seminar organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan and the Administration of the President of Armenia in co-operation with the OSCE/ODIHR on 19 February 2016 in Yerevan...

The SMM observed a number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM observed damage to homes caused by recent shelling. The Mission continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons. The SMM observed long lines of civilians and vehicles waiting at checkpoints close to the contact line, which it attributed to the closure of the Marinka checkpoint. In Odessa, the SMM observed activists at a checkpoint for trucks from the Russian Federation transiting through Ukraine...

BERLIN / VIENNA, 18 February 2016 – The mandate of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) was extended today by the OSCE Permanent Council to 31 March 2017, a move welcomed by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Secretary General Lamberto Zannier...

The SMM observed a significant increase in ceasefire violations from previous days, both in Donetsk and Luhansk region. The Mission continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons, facilitated and monitored demining and repair works and continued to monitor the humanitarian situation on both sides of the contact line. The SMM encountered one freedom-of-movement restriction. The Mission observed protests in other parts of Ukraine calling for the resignation of the Prime Minister.

DUSHANBE, 17 February 2016 – Eleven border officials from national training institutions of Afghanistan and Tajikistan completed a week-long train-the-trainer course today at the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe, focusing on modern instructional methods...