News and press releases

Between the evenings of 16 and 17 June the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 17 and 18 June the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. It confirmed one elderly woman had died from a gunshot wound in Sakhanka. The SMM observed damage to multiple civilian properties due to shelling in Shchastia, Starolaspa, Yasynuvata and Obozne...

BAKU, 19 June 2017 – The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, Stephane Visconti of France, and Richard Hoagland of the United States of America), together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, traveled to the region in June. The main purpose of the Co-Chairs’ visit was to discuss the position of the Sides towards the next steps in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process after the trilateral ministerial meeting in Moscow (28 April) as well as the overall situation in the conflict zone...

A series of training sessions for state and municipal civil servants on the application of a newly adopted law “On state civil service and municipal service” started on 19 June 2017 in Bishkek...

An OSCE-supported workshop for some 30 judges and regional court employees from Kazakhstan on best practices in combating corruption in the judiciary concluded on 19 June 2017 in Astana...

COPENHAGEN, 19 June 2017 – Responding to a vehicle attack on a group of Muslim worshippers as they left a London mosque last night – killing one person and injuring ten others – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Christine Muttonen (MP, Austria) said the incident underlines that violent extremism knows no race, religion or ethnicity, and must be condemned in all its forms...

Vienna, 17 June 2017 – The OSCE officially joined the ranks of 22 other high-profile international organizations that are this year participating in Astana EXPO-2017 on the theme of “Future Energy” by holding an inaugural ceremony on 14 June 2017.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. It confirmed one man had died following shelling of government-controlled Sukha Balka and that two people had been injured in a suspected mine explosion in Bairak. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas and observed construction inside the latter. Its access remained restricted there and elsewhere* The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines. It continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to power lines between Almazna and Zolote. The SMM visited three border areas not under government control. The Mission observed a protest against the re-naming of streets under the de-communisation process in Kyiv...