News and press releases

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it heard ceasefire violations assessed as inside the Petrivske disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere, including near Izvaryne and Sievernyi (border crossing points in Luhansk region near the border with the Russian Federation) and in Verkhnoshyrokivske.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Hnutove and Bakhmut. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to the Petrivske water pumping station in Artema and again facilitated access for workers to the Donetsk Filtration Station. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored a march related to court proceedings regarding events at Maidan in early 2014. In Kharkiv, the Mission monitored a gathering on the fourth anniversary of 2014 events...

BIHAC, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 16 March 2018 – The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), in co-operation with the Partnership for Peace Consortium’s Counterterrorism Working Group, concluded a two-day tabletop exercise in Bihac today, focusing on practical views and ideas in addressing the challenges of violent extremism...

COPENHAGEN, 15 March 2018 – In response to the nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom on 4 March, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) today issued the following statement:...

The Women Entrepreneurs Forum, an OSCE-supported platform for promoting female entrepreneurship and economic empowerment of women living in rural areas, concluded on 16 March 2018 in Atyrau, Kazakhstan.

A two-day OSCE-supported training seminar for participants of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for Preventing Torture and Ill-treatment concluded on 16 March 2018 in Astana...

VIENNA, 16 March 2018- The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office’s Special Representative for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process Franco Frattini will travel to the Republic of Moldova from 26 to 28 March 2018 in his first visit to the country in this capacity. He will hold talks with top-level Moldovan officials and leadership in Tiraspol, including both Chief Negotiators. He will also meet with resident ambassadors of the “5+2” negotiation format. The appointment of Frattini – a former Italian Foreign Minister and Vice-President of the European Commission – underlines the importance the Italian OSCE Chairmanship attaches to advancing the settlement process...

The Second Congress of Civil Initiatives against Corruption, supported by the OSCE, took place on 14 March 2018 in Astana...