News and press releases

In the afternoon of 9 June, an SMM patrol consisting of six members and two armoured vehicles was positioned about 45m east of a checkpoint of the armed formations about 1.2km south-west of Molodizhne (non-government-controlled, 63km north-west of Luhansk), to monitor the security situation. At 14:34, two members of the armed formations approached the SMM, briefly spoke to three SMM patrol members who were outside the vehicles and returned to the checkpoint.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. The SMM recorded an undetermined explosion inside the disengagement area near Stanytsia Luhanska. It saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near residential houses in Chernenko. The Mission saw mines near Pisky, Lozove, and Travneve, some for the first time, and unexploded ordnance in Pikuzy and near the entry-exit checkpoint near Maiorsk. It facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line. The SMM saw people apply for passports of the Russian Federation in Antratsyt and Dokuchaievsk. It monitored the announcement of a court verdict regarding the attack of Kateryna Handziuk. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere. The SMM’s freedom of movement was also restricted in non-government-controlled southern Donetsk region at a checkpoint near Shevchenko.

VIENNA, 7 June 2019 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today expressed serious concern regarding the detention of the investigative journalist, Ivan Golunov, in Moscow.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM observed damage to roofs of Bakhmut Agrarian Union's pig farm buildings near Novoluhanske and fresh craters in a residential area of Pikuzy. Small-arms fire was directed at an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle inside the Zolote disengagement area. The Mission observed for the first time about 280 anti-tank mines near non-government-controlled Staromykhailivka. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere.

Funding models for television in the 21st century was the topic of an OSCE-organized seminar that took place in Ashgabat on 5 and 6 June 2019.

National human rights institutions (NHRIs) are uniquely placed to monitor the economic and social rights policies of their states and evaluate the allocation of resources to ensure effective protection of these rights, said participants in the annual NHRI Academy, which took place in Venice from 3 to 7 June 2019.

Sixty-two district prosecutors and judges from first instance and appellate courts upgraded their skills in investigating and prosecuting cyber-crimes involving children at two OSCE-supported workshops organized jointly with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) from 4 to 7 June 2019 in Vadul-lui-Voda, Moldova...