News and press releases

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons decreased at both BCPs.

Some 20 representatives of law enforcement agencies from Belarus and the Russian Federation began an OSCE Secretariat-organized five-day training course, from 4 to 9 June 2018 in Minsk, on developing co-operation among law enforcement agencies in digital forensics and network investigations in combating drug-related and other crimes...

More than 100 students, teachers, and representatives of civil society and the international community gathered on 5 June 2018 in Skopje for an event of a project sponsored by the OSCE-supported grants programme, the Building Bridges Fund, aimed at increasing interaction among students of different communities...

An OSCE-supported regional training seminar for some 35 military officers from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, on the practical implementation of the Vienna Document 2011 and the implementation of confidence- and security-building measures concluded on 1 June 2018 in Astana...

VIENNA, 4 June 2018 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today expressed his concern that the Spokesperson of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine published a list, which includes journalist Miroslava Gongadze and Chair of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Sergiy Tomilenko, accusing them of being traitors...

COPENHAGEN, 5 June 2018 – Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Migration Nahima Lanjri raised concerns today over reports in the United States that young migrant children are being separated from parents trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as recent news that nearly 1,500 migrant children are unaccounted for in the U.S. due to lax monitoring by the federal government...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions between the evenings of 1 and 2 June, compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 2 and 3 June, the SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more ceasefire violations in Luhansk region, compared with the previous 24 hours. Small arms fire was directed at an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle near non-government-controlled Teplychne in Luhansk region. The SMM followed up on a civilian casualty near Panteleimonivka. The Mission saw fresh damage as a result of shelling to a house in Chermalyk. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Zolote and Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement areas. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere, including at a permanent storage site in a non-government-controlled area of Donetsk region. The SMM continued to monitor and facilitate the access of Voda Donbassa water company employees to the Donetsk Filtration Station (DFS) as well as demining near the DFS. The SMM heard ceasefire violations near the DFS, despite security guarantees. It continued to monitor and facilitate repairs to high-voltage power lines near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka, Almazna and Veselohorivka. In Kyiv, the SMM observed two peaceful public gatherings.