News and press releases

VIENNA, 3 April 2017- The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, and OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier today condemned the atrocious blasts in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, offering condolences to the families of those killed and wishing a rapid recovery to the many injured...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions since a renewed commitment to the ceasefire came into force on 1 April. In Donetsk region the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations but more explosions – the vast majority of them were recorded before midnight on 31 March – between the evenings of 31 March and 1 April compared with the previous reporting period, and fewer ceasefire violations between the evenings of 1 and 2 April compared with the previous 24-hour period...

ASHGABAT, 3 April 2017 – The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Turkmenistan, supported by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, organized today in Ashgabat the fifth meeting of the Regional Infrastructure Confidence-building Measures (RI-CBM) technical groups within the framework of the Istanbul Process on Afghanistan...

The OSCE Programme Office in Astana supported a training seminar on presiding over cases of domestic violence for judges in the framework of the judges’ annual retraining courses in Astana on 3 April 2017...

YEREVAN, 3 April 2017 – The 2 April parliamentary elections in Armenia were well administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected. Despite welcomed reforms of the legal framework and the introduction of new technologies to reduce electoral irregularities, the elections were tainted by credible information about vote-buying, and pressure on civil servants and employees of private companies, international observers concluded in a preliminary statement released today. This contributed to an overall lack of public confidence and trust in the elections, the statement says...

Twenty one officers from the Tajik border troops, ranked from warrant officer to major and mainly coming from border detachments at the Tajik-Afghan and Tajik-Kyrgyz borders, successfully completed a three-week training-of-trainers course on 31 March 2017. The event was organized by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan...

On 2 April, an SMM patrol composed of six members and two armoured vehicles was stationary (since 12:25) 50 metres west of the main Tsentralna street on the northern edge of “DPR”-controlled Sakhanka (24km north-east of Mariupol), in the parking lot of an uninhabited building. Three patrol members were outside the vehicles, and three were inside.