News and press releases

STRASBOURG, France, 27 February 2019 – Presenting the priorities of the 2019 Slovak OSCE Chairmanship to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg today, Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajčák called on all 47 Member States of the Council of Europe to defend institutions, rules and effective multilateralism.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Bullets flew over the heads of SMM patrol members in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. The SMM observed fresh damage caused by shelling to a functioning school in Sakhanka and houses in Zolote-1/Soniachnyi. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside the disengagement area near Zolote. The SMM saw weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines in government-controlled areas of Donetsk region. The Mission monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable an inspection of and repair works to essential civilian infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. It was also restricted at a heavy weapons holding area in Donetsk region, at a compound in Samiilove, at a checkpoint near Novoazovsk and at a checkpoint in Popasna.

VIENNA, 27 February 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today said he is concerned about the detention of several journalists and bloggers who were covering rallies in the cities of Almaty, Zhanaozen and Uralsk in Kazakhstan...

A three-day training course for fifteen Tajik experts and practitioners aimed at strengthening the capacity of Tajikistan to counter terrorist financing was organized by the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Programme in Dushanbe, in co-operation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s Global Programme against Money Laundering, from 25 to 27 February 2019...

On the morning of 26 February, an SMM patrol consisting of six members and two armoured vehicles was positioned on the western edge of Zolote-5/Mykhailivka (non-government-controlled, 58km west of Luhansk), about 500m east of the eastern edge of the Zolote disengagement area. The patrol was monitoring the security situation in the area to enable repair works to water pipes in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. Three patrol members were standing next to the vehicles and the others were inside them. Six employees of the Luhansk Water Company were conducting the repair works about 100m west-north-west of the SMM’s position.

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons decreased at both BCPs compared to the previous week.

• Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer ceasefire violations and Luhansk region. • The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside the disengagement areas near Zolote and Petrivske. • The SMM saw weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. • The Mission monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable an inspection of and repair works to essential civilian infrastructure in Luhansk region. • Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The SMM was also restricted in non-government-controlled Verkhnoshyrokivske and Staromykhailivka, at a permanent storage site in a non-government-controlled area of Donetsk region, as well as in government-controlled Taramchuk.*