News and press releases

VIENNA, 28 April 2017- The OSCE Permanent Council issued in Vienna yesterday a declaration of support for the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine following the tragic incident in eastern Ukraine on 23 April in which an SMM patrol member was killed in the line of duty by an explosion...

VIENNA, 27 April 2017 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz and OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier firmly condemn tonight’s attack on the Parliament building in Skopje. Violence can not substitute for political solutions. Such solutions must be found within the democratic processes in a responsible manner...

MINSK, 27 April 2017 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its three working groups in Minsk on 26 April 2017:..

On 27 April 2017 at 07:04 (Moscow time), the sixty-second Russian convoy arrived at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). A total of 15 vehicles were checked by the Russian border guards and customs services prior to them crossing into Ukraine. All of the 15 vehicles had crossed back into the Russian Federation by 14:58 on 27 April...

VIENNA, 27 April 2017- Following today’s decision of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek will be transformed into the “OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek” as of 1 May 2017...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but, following the serious security incident that involved an SMM patrol on 23 April near Pryshyb, its monitoring in eastern Ukraine continued to be conducted with some security restrictions, which affected its observations, including of ceasefire violations. The Mission continued assessing the site of the 23 April incident. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. Its access remained restricted at all three and elsewhere.* The SMM saw damage from gunfire inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area and near Zhovte. The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in areas not controlled by the Government. The SMM facilitated and monitored repairs to power lines near Nyzhnoteple...

ASHGABAT, 27 April 2017- An OSCE-organized training course on security procedures at aviation checkpoints and analysing X-ray images for aviation security and law-enforcement personnel concluded today in Ashgabat. The practical training course brought together 19 officials from the Aviation