News and press releases

A four-day conference, organized by the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, on the role of armed and security forces in democratic societies started on 15 May 2017 in the coastal town of Budva, Montenegro...

An OSCE-supported workshop for the Kazakhstan-Russia experts’ commission meeting on the joint use and protection of trans-boundary water resources in the Ural River basin concluded on 16 May 2017 in Atyrau, Kazakhstan...

MINSK, 15 May 2017 – 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:..

TIRANA, 15 May 2017 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice-President and Special Representative on South East Europe Roberto Battelli (MP, Slovenia) today kicked off a week-long visit to Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina...

LINZ, Austria, 15 May 2017 – A two-day academic conference on the topic of „connectivity“, a main priority of the OSCE 2017 Austrian Chairmanship in the economic and environmental area, opened today in Linz...

The SMM’s operations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained restricted following the fatal incident of 23 April near Pryshyb; these restrictions continued to limit the Mission’s observations. Between the evenings of 12 and 13 May the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the previous reporting period, while between the evenings of 13 and 14 May it recorded fewer ceasefire violations – including fewer explosions – compared with the previous 24-hour period. In Luhansk region, between the evenings of 12 and 13 May, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations – including more explosions- compared with the previous reporting period, while between the evenings of 13 and 14 May it recorded fewer ceasefire violations compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM followed up on multiple reports of shelling and civilian casualties in Avdiivka, Chermalyk, Dokuchaievsk, Donetsk, Pikuzy, Sentianivka and YasynuvataThe Mission continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons and observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. Its access remained restricted there and elsewhere.* The SMM monitored the situation of civilians travelling across the contact line at the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge. The Mission visited three border areas currently not under government control...

BELGRADE, 15 May 2017 – The OSCE Mission to Serbia is for the first time today marking International Family Day by opening its doors to the families of its staff...