News and press releases

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM saw damage from gunfire to a residential house in Zolote-4/Rodina. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM saw weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The Mission followed up on reports that a woman had died while waiting at a checkpoint near Horlivka. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The SMM was also restricted at a border crossing point with the Russian Federation near Voznesenivka. In Kherson, the SMM monitored a court hearing at which the pre-trial detention of the former editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti Ukraine was extended...

VIENNA, 18 January 2019 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (Georgia) has wrapped up a visit to Vienna, in which he addressed the ambassadors of the OSCE’s 57 participating States and held a number of bilateral meetings with OSCE counterparts...

GENEVA, 18 January 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today met with the Director General of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Noel Curran, and EBU experts in Geneva to discuss political and public support for public service media across the OSCE region, highlighting the important role they can play in strengthening democracy...

MINSK, 18 January 2019 – 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 Working Groups in Minsk on 17 January 2019:...

Latvia’s 6 October 2018 parliamentary elections were administered in a professional and efficient manner with a high level of confidence among stakeholders, concludes the final report issued by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 17 January 2019. The report

VIENNA, 17 January 2019 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) and OSCE PA Secretary General Roberto Montella met on Wednesday with the President of the Austrian National Council and Head of the Delegation of Austria to the OSCE PA, Wolfgang Sobotka...

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • The Mission recorded military presence inside and ceasefire violations near the Zolote disengagement area. • The SMM saw weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. • The Mission saw long queues of civilians waiting to travel across the contact line. • In Odessa, the SMM followed up on reports of a public gathering in front of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation. It saw splashes of red paint on the ground in front of the Consulate... • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas.*