News and press releases

COPENHAGEN, 19 June 2017 – Responding to a vehicle attack on a group of Muslim worshippers as they left a London mosque last night – killing one person and injuring ten others – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Christine Muttonen (MP, Austria) said the incident underlines that violent extremism knows no race, religion or ethnicity, and must be condemned in all its forms...

Vienna, 17 June 2017 – The OSCE officially joined the ranks of 22 other high-profile international organizations that are this year participating in Astana EXPO-2017 on the theme of “Future Energy” by holding an inaugural ceremony on 14 June 2017.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. It confirmed one man had died following shelling of government-controlled Sukha Balka and that two people had been injured in a suspected mine explosion in Bairak. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas and observed construction inside the latter. Its access remained restricted there and elsewhere* The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines. It continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to power lines between Almazna and Zolote. The SMM visited three border areas not under government control. The Mission observed a protest against the re-naming of streets under the de-communisation process in Kyiv...

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, 16 June 2017- A two-day workshop on the “Prevention of Trafficking in Human Beings in Supply Chains through Government Practices and Measures” opened yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan in Astana.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region, including more explosions compared with the previous reporting period. In Luhansk region the Mission registered more ceasefire violations, but fewer explosions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas; an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle spotted that 12 anti-tank mines previously observed at the edge of the Zolote disengagement area were no longer present.

DUSHANBE, 16 June 2017 – The 17th Staff Course for current and future border security managers concluded today in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Twenty four mid- to senior-level officials from border and customs agencies of Afghanistan, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Portugal, Tajikistan and Ukraine graduated from the course...

SHYMKENT, 16 June 2017 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Christine Muttonen (MP, Austria) is wrapping up a week-long visit to Eastern and Central Asia with meetings in southern Kazakhstan today and tomorrow...