News and press releases

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region. In Luhansk region, the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations, including more than twice as many explosions compared with the previous reporting period. It followed up on casualties in Kurakhove and Popasna and observed damage from shelling on both sides of the contact line in Zolote. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas in Stanytsia Luhanska, Petrivske and Zolote but its access remained restricted.* The Mission heard artillery explosions and heavy-machine-gun fire near the Zolote disengagement area. The Mission monitored the blockade of routes crossing the contact line in four locations. It visited two border areas not under government control. The SMM monitored a protest in Chernivtsi...

CHISINAU, 3 March 2017 – The Personal Representative of the Austrian OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Anti-Semitism, Rabbi Andrew Baker, today concluded his first official visit to Moldova, where he met with government and Jewish community representatives to discuss measures to strengthen the commemoration and study of the Holocaust in Moldova and to combat anti-Semitism, intolerance and hate crimes...

VIENNA, 3 March 2017 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on Georgian authorities to ensure media independence and pluralism following a Supreme Court ruling ordering a change of ownership of the Rustavi 2 television channel...

The OSCE Office in Tajikistan and the OSCE-supported Women’s Resource Centres (WRCs) signed the new implementing partner agreement on 3 March 2017 to launch project implementation for 2017. The signing ceremony was held in the premises of the Balkhi Women Resource Centre, Khatlon region...

The first in a series of OSCE-supported five-day training courses on profiling at the border checkpoints to assist in countering transnational threats concluded in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 3 March 2017...

Some 70 officials from central and local customs authorities in Kazakhstan and members of the Chamber of Commerce and business community were trained on a system which allows entities to temporarily import goods into a country during a workshop supported by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana on 2 and 3 March 2017...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including more than twice as many explosions compared with the previous reporting period. It observed damage from shelling on both sides of the contact line. The SMM monitored adherence to the ceasefire and facilitated dialogue in order to repair essential infrastructure in the area of Svitlodarsk. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas in Stanytsia Luhanska, Petrivske and Zolote but its access remained restricted.* The Mission heard artillery explosions and heavy-machine-gun fire inside and near the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM camera in Stanytsia Luhanska revealed five ceasefire violations inside the disengagement area on 27 February. The SMM noted unexploded ordnance in Lyman, Shchastia, Kalynove and near Donetsk airport. The Mission monitored the blockade of routes crossing the contact line in four locations. It visited a border area not under government control...