News and press releases

An OSCE-supported workshop on facilitating the rehabilitation of prisoners convicted of violent extremism, including returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters, through risk assessments and effective classification measures concluded on 26 July 2019 in Nur-Sultan.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The Mission continued to monitor the disengagement area near Stanytsia Luhanska. Aerial imagery available to the SMM revealed the presence of fresh craters inside and near the Zolote disengagement area. The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in government-controlled Vidrodzhennia and near Lysychansk. The SMM facilitated and monitored a transfer of persons convicted before the conflict from non-government- to government-controlled areas in Luhansk region. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued, including at non-government-controlled checkpoints near Zaichenko and Verkhnoshyrokivske...

On 25 July at 06:39 (Moscow time), the eighty-third Russian convoy arrived at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). A total of 9 vehicles were checked by Russian Federation border guards and customs officers prior to their crossing into Ukraine. All 9 vehicles had crossed back into the Russian Federation by 13:46 on 25 July...

On 25 July, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Claus Neukirch, and the Defence Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Pavel Voicu, paid a joint visit to the military base in the city of Floresti in the north of Moldova. The visit offered an opportunity to assess the implementation of the OSCE Mission’s project on explosive risk mitigation. The project is run in co-operation with the Ministry. It aims at improving the general safety and security of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova living in the close vicinity of the ammunitions depots...

Strengthening rule of law-compliant criminal justice responses to terrorism was the aim of a two-day seminar for over 30 Turkmen practitioners from relevant government agencies and the bar association which concluded on 25 July 2019 in Ashgabat...

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. A boy was injured due to the detonation of an explosive device in Khrestivka and a girl was injured due to shelling in Pervomaisk, reportedly on 15 and 20 July. The Mission saw recent damage caused by shelling to a Cultural House in Pikuzy and to a residential building in Pervomaisk, reportedly on 20 July. Inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area, the SMM continued to monitor the operation of a shuttle bus service in government-controlled areas north of the bridge. It observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. An SMM UAV spotted the presence of a train and aerial imagery revealed the presence of vehicle tracks and a trench extension near the border with the Russian Federation. The SMM saw anti-tank mines, some for the first time, near Krasnohorivka, Staromykhailivka, Marinka and the Trudivski area of Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate the operation of critical civilian infrastructure, including the drilling of wells in Raivka. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued, including at a checkpoint near non-government-controlled Shevchenko and in Nova Marivka.

Developing effective methods of providing assistance to the victims of human trafficking was the central topic discussed at an OSCE roundtable meeting in Ashgabat on 23 July 2019.