News and press releases

VIENNA/BRATISLAVA- 29 June 2019- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) visited Vienna and Bratislava from 27-28 June to brief the Permanent Representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group countries, OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger, and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak on the results of the Co-Chairs’ recent visit to the region and their recent consultations with the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers in Moscow and Washington, DC.

Press Statement of Special Representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group Sajdik on the conduct of disengagement from the agreed area at Stanytsia Luhanska

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. • The Mission saw demining activities inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area and further withdrawal of forces and hardware. • The SMM saw fresh craters and damage to houses due to shelling in Pikuzy. • Small-arms fire was assessed as aimed at SMM unmanned aerial vehicles near Sakhanka and Staromykhailivka. • The SMM saw anti-tank mines near Talakivka and Pikuzy, including some for the first time. • The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to critical civilian infrastructure. • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere, including near non-government-controlled Starolaspa, Shevchenko and Verkhnoshyrokivske.*

BRATISLAVA, 28 June 2019- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister, Miroslav Lajčák, met with Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov of the Russian Federation and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America, acting also on behalf of Minsk Group Co-Chair Stéphane Visconti of France, and with Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

On 27 June, the SMM was flying a long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over government- and non-government-controlled areas of southern Donetsk region. At 23:18, while the UAV was flying near Zaichenko (non-government-controlled, 93km south of Donetsk), on-board systems indicated that the temperature of the UAV engine had reached critically high levels and it began to rapidly lose power and altitude. While attempting a controlled descent in an unpopulated area, at 23:22, the SMM lost contact with the UAV...

A group of journalists from both banks of the Dniester/Nistru River took part in a two-day workshop organized by the OSCE Mission to Moldova from 27 to 28 June in Chisinau. The workshop aimed to enhance their understanding of the specifics of reporting on diversity and national minorities. Representatives of the Moldovan Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, Bureau for Inter-ethnic Relations and Equality Council joined the event...

A five-day OSCE-supported training seminar on the detection of forged travel documents and identification techniques concluded on 28 June 2019 in Aktau, Kazakhstan. Nineteen coast guard officers of Kazakhstan’s Border Guard Service under the National Security Committee took part in the course. The