News and press releases

KYIV, Ukraine, 19 April, 2014 –Acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia and the Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), Amb. Ertugrul Apakan, met today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the participants of the 17 April Geneva meeting – the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United States.

Teams of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) gauged reaction to the Geneva Statement of 17 April. The situation in Western and Central Ukraine remains calm. In Luhansk and Donetsk districts it is tense owing to the continued activity of armed opponents of the central government. In the southern part of the country and in other parts of Eastern Ukraine, the situation was assessed as stable and relatively calm.

DUSHANBE, 18 April 2014 – A week-long course on border delimitation and demarcation concluded at the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe today.

The situation in Western and Central Ukraine remains calm, whereas in Luhansk and Donetsk districts it is tense due to the activity of armed opponents of the central government, and Ukrainian special forces conducting a “counter-terrorist operation”. In the southern part of the country and in other parts of Eastern Ukraine some tension was felt and, overall, the number of roadblocks in Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson and Odessa appeared to have increased.

DUSHANBE, 18 April 2014 – Twenty-two officers from Tajik border enforcement agencies completed today an OSCE-supported training course on senior management skills.

ASHGABAT, 18 April 2014 – An OSCE-supported course for parliamentarians and lawyers on the contemporary techniques of drafting legislation concluded in Ashgabat today.

UST-KAMENOGORSK, Kazakhstan, 18 April 2014 – An OSCE-supported training seminar for journalists on environmental reporting with a special focus on green economy issues began today in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Eastern Kazakhstan Region.