News and press releases

The OSCE Mission to Skopje supported a series of bilateral meetings that took place between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, most recently on 28 June 2019, to work out an agreement to set up more streamlined procedures and direct channels of communication to exchange information regarding trafficking cases...

VIENNA, 2 July 2019 – Leveraging economic and environmental activities to foster dialogue, build trust and reduce tensions, was the focus of a discussion held in Vienna today amongst OSCE participating States and experts from the field...

Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The SMM saw damage to houses due to shelling in Pikuzy and in Avdiivka. Small arms fired in direction of SMM unmanned aerial vehicle in Khreshchatytske. The SMM continued to monitor activities related to disengagement at Stanytsia Luhanska. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. The Mission saw weapons in violations of withdrawal lines in government-controlled areas of Luhansk region and in non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk region. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate repairs and the operations of critical civilian infrastructure. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere. Its freedom of movement was also denied near non-government-controlled Shevchenko, Sosnivske and Tavrycheske...

MINSK, 2 July 2019 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its working groups in Minsk on 2 July 2019...

KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKIY, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons increased at both BCPs compared to the previous week...

An advanced train-the-trainer course on the identification of potential foreign terrorists fighters (FTFs) at the borders was organized by the Transnational Threats Department’s Border Security and Management Unit with support of the Government of Turkey for six newly selected border officers from Greece, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey, from 24 to 29 June 2019 in Istanbul...

The SMM continued to monitor activities related to the disengagement process at Stanytsia Luhanska. Inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area, the Mission saw that the most forward position of the Ukrainian Armed Forces remained empty; it saw two men in military-type clothing present at the most forward position of the armed formations. The SMM also continued to observe representatives of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine conducting demining activities, as well as members of the armed formations dismantling parts of facilities next to their checkpoint. Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 28 and 29 June, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Between the evenings of 29 and 30 June, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM followed up on reports of a man injured due to shelling in the Trudivski area of Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district and observed fresh craters there. The SMM saw damage caused by small-arms fire to a residential building in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. Small-arms fire was assessed as aimed at an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flying over the Zolote disengagement area. The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in a government-controlled area of Luhansk region. Restrictions to the SMM’s access continued in the disengagement areas. Its freedom of movement was also denied near non-government-controlled Veselohorivka and Oleksandrivske...