News and press releases

TIRANA, 1 July 2019 – Albania’s 30 June local elections were held with little regard for the interests of the voters in a climate of political standoff, said observers with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in a preliminary statement of their findings...

On 29 June, the SMM received a Note Verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine notifying that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had completed disengagement in the agreed disengagement area near Stanytsia Luhanska.

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. • The Mission observed demining activities and removal of concrete blocks and other objects inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area. • The SMM followed up on reports of a woman injured due to shelling in Oleksandrivka. • It saw damage caused by gunfire to and near civilian houses and a church in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka and Pikuzy. • An SMM long-range UAV was lost in a non-government-controlled area of Donetsk region. • The Mission saw weapons in violations of withdrawal lines in a government-controlled area in Luhansk region. • The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate the operations of critical civilian infrastructure. • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere. Its freedom of movement was also denied near Novoazovsk and Kozatske, and in areas near the border with the Russian Federation, all in non-government-controlled areas.*

VIENNA/BRATISLAVA- 29 June 2019- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) visited Vienna and Bratislava from 27-28 June to brief the Permanent Representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group countries, OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger, and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak on the results of the Co-Chairs’ recent visit to the region and their recent consultations with the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers in Moscow and Washington, DC.

Press Statement of Special Representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group Sajdik on the conduct of disengagement from the agreed area at Stanytsia Luhanska

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. • The Mission saw demining activities inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area and further withdrawal of forces and hardware. • The SMM saw fresh craters and damage to houses due to shelling in Pikuzy. • Small-arms fire was assessed as aimed at SMM unmanned aerial vehicles near Sakhanka and Staromykhailivka. • The SMM saw anti-tank mines near Talakivka and Pikuzy, including some for the first time. • The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to critical civilian infrastructure. • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere, including near non-government-controlled Starolaspa, Shevchenko and Verkhnoshyrokivske.*

BRATISLAVA, 28 June 2019- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister, Miroslav Lajčák, met with Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov of the Russian Federation and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America, acting also on behalf of Minsk Group Co-Chair Stéphane Visconti of France, and with Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.