News and press releases

COPENHAGEN, 25 July 2019 – In order to better address relevant challenges in the OSCE area OSCE PA President George Tsereteli (Georgia), entering his second term, appointed this week a new Special Representative and a new Special Rapporteur.

A two-day roundtable discussion supported by the OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan on the sustainable management of the Zhaiyk (Ural) river basin ecosystem, which traverses Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation, concluded on 26 July 2019 in Oral, Kazakhstan.

An OSCE-supported workshop on facilitating the rehabilitation of prisoners convicted of violent extremism, including returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters, through risk assessments and effective classification measures concluded on 26 July 2019 in Nur-Sultan.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The Mission continued to monitor the disengagement area near Stanytsia Luhanska. Aerial imagery available to the SMM revealed the presence of fresh craters inside and near the Zolote disengagement area. The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in government-controlled Vidrodzhennia and near Lysychansk. The SMM facilitated and monitored a transfer of persons convicted before the conflict from non-government- to government-controlled areas in Luhansk region. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued, including at non-government-controlled checkpoints near Zaichenko and Verkhnoshyrokivske...

On 25 July at 06:39 (Moscow time), the eighty-third Russian convoy arrived at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). A total of 9 vehicles were checked by Russian Federation border guards and customs officers prior to their crossing into Ukraine. All 9 vehicles had crossed back into the Russian Federation by 13:46 on 25 July...

On 25 July, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Claus Neukirch, and the Defence Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Pavel Voicu, paid a joint visit to the military base in the city of Floresti in the north of Moldova. The visit offered an opportunity to assess the implementation of the OSCE Mission’s project on explosive risk mitigation. The project is run in co-operation with the Ministry. It aims at improving the general safety and security of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova living in the close vicinity of the ammunitions depots...

Strengthening rule of law-compliant criminal justice responses to terrorism was the aim of a two-day seminar for over 30 Turkmen practitioners from relevant government agencies and the bar association which concluded on 25 July 2019 in Ashgabat...