News and press releases

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The SMM saw a slightly injured man and damage from shelling at a mosque in non-government-controlled Donetsk city, as well as an injured man and damage from shelling to his house in non-government-controlled Uzhivka. The Mission saw fresh damage caused by small-arms-fire to an apartment building in non-government-controlled Dokuchaievsk. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The Mission observed the presence of unexploded ordnance in government-controlled Novoluhanske. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere...

Good planning is key to the efficient functioning of an election commission, which is why the OSCE Mission to Montenegro organized a three-day seminar for members of the State Election Commission (SEC) from 5 to 7 June 2019 in Podgorica on developing an election operational plan in preparation for the upcoming 2020 parliamentary elections...

Taking stock and identifying ways to make multilateral cooperation in the fight against torture more effective were the focus of the conference ‘Effective multilateralism in the fight against torture: Trends in the OSCE region and the way forward’ that took place on 5 June 2019 in Vienna.

A two-day consultation meeting between the OSCE and Moldovan authorities on how to set up an Advance Passenger Information (API) system to detect and thwart the movement of foreign terrorist fighters and improve national security in general was organized on 4 and 5 June 2019...

BELGRADE, 4 June 2019 – Visiting Serbia today as part of his commitment to visit all OSCE field missions, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák, together with First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Ivica Dačić and the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Andrea Orizio, opened the High-Level Discussion on Security Sector Governance and Reform (SSG/R) in South-Eastern Europe in Belgrade...

VIENNA, 4 June 2019 – About 180 diplomats, experts and civil society representatives gathered today at the United Nations Vienna headquarters today to discuss the OSCE’s contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Mission saw fresh damage from gunfire to an apartment in non-government-controlled Dokuchaievsk. The SMM saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near government-controlled Heivka and Ozarianivka. On the nights of 30 May and 2 June, an SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle spotted trucks traveling from an area near the border with the Russian Federation to non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure. In Kharkiv, the SMM saw that a monument to General Zhukov was toppled. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere. The Mission’s freedom of movement was also restricted at a non-government-controlled border crossing point near Dovzhanske...