News and press releases

KYIV, 6 March 2014 – OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors is alarmed about the situation in Crimea...

PARIS, 5 March 2014 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister, Didier Burkhalter, took part in a meeting on the Ukrainian crisis in Paris today. On the invitation of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, key actors focused in their discussions on the possibility of the creation of a contact group for Ukraine...

COPENHAGEN, 5 March 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ranko Krivokapic today completed a two-day visit to the Czech Republic, where the crisis in Ukraine and the role the OSCE can play in helping to resolve it featured in talks with government leaders and lawmakers.

VIENNA, 5 March 2014 – Eighteen OSCE participating States decided to send 35 unarmed military and civilian personnel to Ukraine in response to its request. The matter was discussed at a joint meeting of the Permanent Council and the Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) in Vienna on 4 March 2014...

BERN, 4 March 2014 – Swiss Chairperson-in-Office Didier Burkhalter today discussed the Ukrainian crisis with German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier. They emphasized the capacity of the OSCE in helping to overcome the crisis...

COPENHAGEN, 4 March 2014 – Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, today criticized Russia for “violating several key provisions of the Helsinki Final Act” in its recent actions with respect to Ukraine and called on OSCE officials to consider the implications. In an address before the OSCE Human Dimension Committee in Vienna, Santos said: “When I observe this 19th century act in the 21st century, I wonder if Russia’s de facto invasion of Ukraine means its de facto withdrawal from our Organization and its key commitments to Eurasian security.”

COPENHAGEN, 4 March 2014 – OSCE parliamentarians will travel to Serbia next week to observe the country's 16 March parliamentary elections and provide leadership for the OSCE's short-term observer mission.