News and press releases

COPENHAGEN, 26 November 2018 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) expressed deep concern today over the escalation of tensions in the Kerch Strait between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, called for restraint, and reiterated support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity...

The SMM followed up on the security situation in relation to reported developments at sea, near the Kerch Strait, where on 25 November, three vessels of the Naval Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces – two artillery boats “Berdiansk” and “Nikopol” and one tug boat “Yany Kapu” – en route from Odessa to Mariupol had been involved in an incident with vessels of the Russian Federation. Reportedly, weapons were used, six sailors were wounded and the three Ukrainian vessels were seized...

KYIV, 26 November 2018 – The OSCE Chairperson’s Special Representative to the Trilateral Contact Group, Martin Sajdik, and the Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), Ertugrul Apakan, said today that they followed recent incidents at sea, near the Kerch Strait, with great concern...

In order to support ethical and professional reporting, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights organized a two-day workshop on gender equality for media representatives in Podgorica, on 22 and 23 November.

Members of Parliament, parliament service staff and representatives from the government and civil society organizations participated in an oversight simulation in Mavrovo from 23 to 25 November 2018 to learn about and practice how to organize public hearings in the parliament...

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. • The SMM recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. • The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to critical infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • Access for the SMM remained restricted in all three disengagement areas; it was also restricted in the Trudivski area of Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district, Novolaspa and near Lozove*. • It continued to monitor queues of civilians at entry-exit checkpoints along the contact line. • The Mission monitored a public gathering in Ivano-Frankivsk commemorating events at Maidan.

A team of election experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented the  final report of the ODIHR election assessment mission for the October 2017 parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic during their visits to Prague and Brno from 20 to 23 November