News and press releases

Latvia’s 6 October 2018 parliamentary elections were administered in a professional and efficient manner with a high level of confidence among stakeholders, concludes the final report issued by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 17 January 2019. The report

VIENNA, 17 January 2019 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) and OSCE PA Secretary General Roberto Montella met on Wednesday with the President of the Austrian National Council and Head of the Delegation of Austria to the OSCE PA, Wolfgang Sobotka...

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • The Mission recorded military presence inside and ceasefire violations near the Zolote disengagement area. • The SMM saw weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. • The Mission saw long queues of civilians waiting to travel across the contact line. • In Odessa, the SMM followed up on reports of a public gathering in front of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation. It saw splashes of red paint on the ground in front of the Consulate... • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas.*

KYIV, 17 January 2019 – Concluding a two-day official visit to Ukraine, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Slovakia’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák said he was shocked by the alarming conditions of people living near the contact line in the country’s east, and called on the sides to step up their efforts for a peaceful political solution to the crisis.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Small-arms fire damaged a window of an apartment building in Dokuchaievsk. A civilian woman died while crossing the contact line near Maiorsk entry-exit checkpoint. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repair works to essential civilian infrastructure in Luhansk region. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas.* The SMM continued to follow up on a fire at the Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv. The Mission observed a calm situation at the crossing point in Chonhar and at a Ukrainian State Border Guard Service position in Valok, in the south-eastern part of Kherson region.

PARIS, 16 January 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) hosted consultations between Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov and Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on 16 January in Paris. The Co-Chairs met separately and then jointly with the Ministers. Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk also participated in these meetings. This was the fourth meeting of the two Ministers.

CHISINAU, 16 January 2019 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened an election observation mission (EOM) for the parliamentary elections scheduled for 24 February in Moldova. The mission’s deployment follows an invitation from the authorities...