News and press releases

TIRASPOL, 10 September 2018- The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, Franco Frattini, handed over the first Moldovan neutral-design licence plates to first applicants at a Vehicle Registration Office (VRO) in Tiraspol today. Frattini is visiting Moldova on 9 and 10 September to mark a new milestone achieved by the Sides in the Transdniestrian Settlement Process...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission saw multiple launch rocket systems in violation of withdrawal lines. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area and near the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas, and again near Zaichenko and Novoazovsk.* The Mission continued to monitor the situation at the closed entry-exit checkpoint near Stanytsia Luhanska where it saw that construction and repair works were ongoing. The SMM continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. It also facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to water infrastructure near Pervomaisk and Krasnyi Lyman.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. An SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle spotted at least five burned down houses in Zaitseve. The Mission recorded a ceasefire violation inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area and ceasefire violations near the Zolote disengagement area. It saw fortification works to a new military position of the Ukrainian Armed Forces inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas, at a permanent storage site in a non-government-controlled area of Donetsk region and again in Verkhnoshyrokivske.* The Mission continued to monitor the situation at the closed entry-exit checkpoint near Stanytsia Luhanska where it saw that construction works were ongoing. The SMM continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. It also facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to water infrastructure near Zolote. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored two public gatherings in front of the Parliament building. The Mission also followed up on reports of hazardous chemical air pollution in southern areas of Kherson region.

The OSCE Presence in Albania, in co-operation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Office in Albania, launched a call on 7 September 2018 for researchers to undertake research projects on transitional justice in Albania.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Institute for Gender Equality organized a two-day regional meeting in Sarajevo on the importance of data collection on violence against women in the Western Balkan region...

CHISINAU, 7 September 2018 – The Italian OSCE Chairmanship has appointed Claus Neukirch of Germany as the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova. He will also serve as the OSCE mediator in the Transdniestrian Settlement Process.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more ceasefire violations in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. It followed up on reports of a civilian casualty as a result of an explosion of a heavy-machine-gun round in Shchastia. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area and new military positions inside the Petrivske disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas as well as at a heavy weapons holding area in a non-government-controlled area of Donetsk region and in Verkhnoshyrokivske.* It observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines including in Buhaivka, Miusynsk and Khrustalnyi. The Mission’s long-range unmanned aerial vehicle spotted a convoy of trucks on a dirt road near the border with the Russian Federation where there are no border crossing facilities in a non-government-controlled area of Donetsk region, in the middle of the night. It continued to monitor the situation at the closed entry-exit checkpoint near Stanytsia Luhanska where it observed construction works and road repairs. The Mission continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. The SMM also facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to water infrastructure near Zolote, Pervomaisk and Krasnyi Lyman.