News and press releases

MINSK, 31 January 2018 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its Working Groups in Minsk on 31 January 2018...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near all three. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including in Donske. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Vidrodzhennia and Bakhmut. The Mission continued to facilitate and monitor repair works to water wells near Krasnyi Lyman. The SMM visited two border areas not under government control. In Chernivtsi, the SMM observed an event commemorating the battle of Kruty...

VIENNA, 31 January 2018- The importance of transparent and reliable military information for countering the deliberate or undeliberate misinterpretation of data on military activities that may heighten tensions between participating States, and even escalate protracted conflicts, was emphasized at today’s OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) meeting in Vienna, held under Slovakia’s Chairmanship...

VIENNA, 31 January 2018 – A plan for joint action by the OSCE and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for the period 2018-2019 was signed by OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger and UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov today at the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna.

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 compared to the previous week. The seventy-first Russian convoy crossed into Ukraine and returned though the Donetsk BCP...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Petrivske disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including to two compounds in Luhansk city. The SMM observed weapons in violations of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM facilitated and monitored repair works to a water pumping station near Artema. The Mission visited four border areas not under government control. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored a gathering in the city centre and it continued to monitor the gathering outside the Parliament building. In Ivano-Frankivsk, Odessa, Kharkiv and Dnipro, the SMM observed events commemorating the battle of Kruty...

VIENNA, 30 January 2018 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today condemned recent violent attacks against reporters at an event in a hotel in Prague following the election of the Czech president...