News and press releases

WARSAW, 26 March 2017- Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, today condemned the reported undue restrictions on public assemblies and the unnecessary use of force by Belarusian authorities against peaceful protestors in Minsk and other cities in the country.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of a civilian casualty in Naberezhne and observed damage to houses and other infrastructure in Horlivka. The Mission monitored the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, but its access there and elsewhere remained restricted.* An armed man fired a shot in the air 20m away from an SMM patrol in Znamianka.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The blockade of railway routes across the contact line in Buhas, Hirske and Bakhmut continued. In Kharkiv region the SMM continued monitoring the situation following a fire and a series of explosions at an ammunition storage depot...

At 12:10 on 24 March, an SMM patrol of four mission members in two armoured vehicles stopped at an abandoned bus stop about 800m west of “LPR”-controlled Znamianka (36km north-west of Luhansk) to monitor the ceasefire. On disembarking the SMM heard eight single shots of small-arms fire approximately 1km south...

CHISINAU, 24 March 2017 – The Special Representative of the Austrian OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, Wolf Dietrich Heim, today concluded a visit to the region where he met political representatives of the sides in Chisinau and Tiraspol...

The security situation deteriorated along the contact line. The SMM recorded a sharp increase in the number of ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of civilian casualties in Yasynuvata and Donetsk city and observed damage to civilian houses and other infrastructure on both sides of the contact line. The Mission monitored the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, but its access there and elsewhere remained restricted...

COPENHAGEN, 24 March 2017 – Kent Harstedt (MP, Sweden), the Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Working Group on Belarus, today expressed concerns regarding an increasingly hazardous atmosphere pertaining to demonstrations that have taken place in recent weeks and other gatherings that are reportedly planned to be held tomorrow...

COPENHAGEN, 24 March 2017 – OSCE parliamentarians will observe the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia and provide leadership for the OSCE’s short-term observer mission...