News and press releases

BERN, 7 September 2014- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter commended the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) for its measures taken to rapidly adapt to new monitoring needs arising from the protocol signed in Minsk on 5 September. Underlining that it was key to assist in the implementation of the Minsk commitments without delay, Burkhalter confirmed that the SMM had redeployed in the last two days 59 specialists with particular experience in the monitoring of ceasefires and was now in the process of rapidly recruiting further monitors...

This report is for media and the general public...

On 5 September, the SMM monitored the Vostochny District of Mariupol city and the “Vostochny” checkpoint on the eastern outskirts of Mariupol...

The security situation in Donetsk remained volatile. Intense shelling in Donetsk city continued. In Mariupol local inhabitants fear possible attacks by irregular armed groups. Reportedly, the “Aidar” battalion occupied the main power plant in Shchastya...

BERN, 5 September 2014- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter welcomed today’s agreement in Minsk on a ceasefire and on launching a political process to resolve the crisis. Emphasizing the opportunity to finally reverse the logic of escalation, he said that this conflict had caused far too much bloodshed and misery already and urged all sides to implement today’s commitments. Burkhalter also commended the work of the Trilateral Contact Group and thanked his Special Representative Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini for her untiring work...

VIENNA, 5 September 2014 – Following the continued intimidation of members of the media in Ukraine, most recently a series of abductions of journalists covering the conflict in the eastern part of the country, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today again said that the attacks on journalists must stop...

MOSCOW, 5 September 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) met with Russian State Duma Chairperson and Head of the Russian Delegation to the OSCE PA Sergey Naryshkin at the conclusion of his visit to Moscow today...