News and press releases

KYIV, 13 June 2019 – Visiting Ukraine for the second time since taking over the OSCE Chairmanship, Slovakia’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other members of the Ukrainian leadership to explore steps towards a peaceful political solution to the crisis in and around Ukraine as well as to discuss ways to ease human suffering on the ground...

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the Mission recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. • Two men were injured and a tractor destroyed by a mine explosion in a field south of Popasna. • The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. • The SMM saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. • The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line. • It saw two international organization convoys transporting humanitarian aid in Pikuzy and Sakhanka and near Olenivka. • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere, including at checkpoints near non-government-controlled Ternove and Novoazovsk...

A two-day national seminar on a whole-of-society approach to countering violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism (VERLT), organized by the OSCE and the Government of Georgia, began on 13 June 2019 in Tbilisi. This is the first seminar of the kind organized by the OSCE in the country...

COPENHAGEN, 13 June 2019 – Following mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators in recent days in Moscow, Russia, and several cities in Kazakhstan, the leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee call for full respect of fundamental freedoms of assembly and expression...

On 11 June, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo started a series of employment fairs for members of Kosovo Roma, Kosovo Ashkali, and Kosovo Egyptian communities in Pejë/Peć. The employment fairs aim to create a bridge between potential employers and employees, and to provide community members with a network for career exploration...

An OSCE-supported on-site training and evaluation workshop under an UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) project on improving mining and tailings safety, with special attention to transboundary implications on the territories of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, concluded on 13 June 2019 in Kokshetau, Kazakhstan.

On 11 June 2019 the OSCE Academy in Bishkek and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia (MGIMO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which will allow for closer academic exchange between the two institutions, research internship opportunities for OSCE Academy students, and the implementation of joint projects...