News and press releases

PODGORICA, 3 September 2014 – The OSCE Mission to Montenegro and the country’s Defence Ministry will host tomorrow on 4 September a pre-deployment human rights training for armed forces to be engaged in international missions...

VIENNA, 3 September 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović said today she was appalled to learn about the death of Russian photographer Andrei Stenin, and she urged the Ukrainian authorities to investigate the circumstances of his death.

SARAJEVO, 3 September 2014 – The new Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Jonathan Moore, assumed his duties in Sarajevo on 3 September 2014...

BERN/VIENNA, 3 September 2014- OSCE Chair in Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, and Secretary General Lamberto Zannier are to present the Organization’s response to the Ukraine crisis during an event at the NATO Summit in Newsport, Wales...

KYIV, 2 September 2014- The Trilateral Contact Group of senior representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office had a face-to-face meeting, on 1 September 2014, with representatives of the self-proclaimed entities of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern regions of Ukraine...

VIENNA, 2 September 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today said that draft amendments to an anti-extremism law in Moldova could pose a threat to freedom of expression on the Internet...

ASTANA, 2 September 2014 – The second in a series of four OSCE-supported training seminars on practical aspects of implementing the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for preventing torture and ill-treatment in Kazakhstan took place today in Astana...

Intensity of shelling appeared to decrease in Donetsk city, whilst mortar fire was observed coming from within the airport area. The SMM was informed by Ukrainian officials that the airport in Luhansk was no longer under control of the Ukrainian forces...

COPENHAGEN, 2 September 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) and Secretary General Spencer Oliver will visit Moscow from 4 to 5 September for meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko and State Duma Chairperson Sergey Naryshkin...

ASHGABAT, 2 September 2014 – The national system for combatting money laundering and preventing financing of terrorism was discussed at an OSCE-supported roundtable discussion, held at the Good Governance Resource Centre in Ashgabat today...

During her visit to Belgrade OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) on 28 and 29 August 2014, Astrid Thors took part in the presentation of a study co-financed by HCNM on teaching and learning the Serbian language as a non-mother tongue in South Serbia...

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro donated six computers to Montenegrin Interior Ministry, as part of a regional project on combating organized crime...

This report is for media and the general public. Donetsk city was affected by sporadic shelling in the early hours of 31 August. “DPR” announced its intention to release 15 Ukrainian soldiers held in Ilovaysk. The situation in Mariupol was calm; the SMM observed checkpoints around the city.

GENEVA / WASHINGTON / VIENNA / PRETORIA,1 September 2014 – Recent attacks, ongoing kidnappings, and arbitrary and unjustified incarcerations of journalists around the world must be condemned and opposed by the international community, a group of international freedom of expression rapporteurs said today...

PODGORICA, 31 August 2014 – A media campaign aiming to raise awareness of road and traffic safety, particularly among children, has been launched by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and its partners. The campaign will run from 31 August to 30 September 2014.

This report is for media and the general public. The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) monitored a demonstration in Kharkiv attended by approximately 400 supporters of Ukraine’s unity in front of the Consulate of the Russian Federation on 28 August.

VIENNA, 30 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called for the Russian authoities to fully investigate and prosecute all attacks on journalist following an attack against journalist Lev Schlosberg in Pskov, in western Russia.

The SMM established an advance team in Mariupol to monitor the security situation in the area. This presence is being strengthened.

Bern, August 29, 2014- Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Didier Burkhalter, expressed great concern about the spreading of military confrontation to further areas in eastern parts of Ukraine and the respective escalation of tensions. He also said that reports about growing flows of military personnel and military equipment from the Russian Federation into Ukraine were greatly troubling and must be thoroughly investigated. He recalled that the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its sovereignty had to be respected and preserved by all sides and at all times, adding that failure to do so would contravene international law and fundamental principles of the OSCE.

The SMM witnessed the impact of the conflict on the civilian population in the town of Yasynuvata, and met – in Chernivtsi – with Ukrainian activists delivering supplies to the area of fighting. The SMM deployed an advance team to Mariupol (113 km south of Donetsk) last night at 22:30hrs. They will be reinforced today. Reporting will also be initiated today...

More than 60 judges of local and administrative courts, and legal professionals from across the country attended two summer schools held by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine during July and August 2014 on applying the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and case-law of the European Court (ECtHR) to uphold the rule of law and strengthening the protection of human rights...

CHISINAU, 29 August 2014- The holding of the upcoming 5+2 talks would send a positive signal on the prospects of reducing tensions, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process Ambassador Radojko Bogojević said today as he concluded his visit to Chisinau and Tiraspol...

BERN / MOSTAR, 29 August 2014 – Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, congratulated the Presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia for being the first signatories of a declaration on the issue of conflict-related missing persons...

ASHGABAT, 29 August 2014 – Practical aspects of legislative drafting were the focus of an OSCE-organized study visit to Belarus by law-makers from Turkmenistan, which ended in Minsk today...

Ten teams of “Peace Messengers” from Kyrgyzstan’s Jalal-Abad province took part in a simulation exercise on 26 August 2014 with the aim of testing their capabilities in crisis response and in acting jointly with public authorities on settling conflict and maintaining stability in their areas of responsibility...

DUSHANBE, 29 August 2014 – Twenty-two mid-rank and front-line officers, including four women, from Tajik law enforcement agencies working in travel documents management and security, completed a week-long OSCE training course in Dushanbe today on detecting and identifying forged documents...

VIENNA, 29 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today welcomed the Vilnius Regional Court ruling of 18 August, which found illegal the wiretapping of the telephone conversations of ten current and former employees of the Baltic News Service (BNS), one of the largest news agencies in Lithuania...

The intensity of the fighting increased in areas closer to Donetsk city centre, resulting in damage to the infrastructure, and fatalities among the civilian population. In Lviv a group of protesters tried to force its way into the building of the regional traffic police...

DUSHANBE, 28 August 2014 – Twenty border officers from Afghanistan and Tajikistan successfully completed a ten-day border management awareness course at the OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) today...

KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY, Russian Federation, 27 August 2014- The Observer Mission (OM) has completed the replacement of its administrative staff members. Cross-border traffic flow increased at both Border Crossing Points with more people exiting from the Russian Federation into Ukraine in the past two days. The OM received reports from people fleeing the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The most prominent occurrence was the passage of 227 vehicles belonging to a Russian convoy to Ukraine and its return to the Russian Federation through Donetsk Border Crossing Point, which attracted considerable media attention...

A two-day OSCE-supported workshop on implementing the Aarhus Convention in the context of the integrated water resources management and the country’s strategy of transition to a green economy, concluded on 27 August 2014 in Petropavlovsk, Northern Kazakhstan...

The SMM visited areas in the Luhansk region affected by the armed conflict. In Donetsk the SMM gathered information about incidents against priests from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate...

VIENNA, 27 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned several recent attacks on journalists in the Pskov region, in western Russia...

In Donetsk the SMM continues to observe the impact of the conflict on the civilian population and infrastructure...

VIENNA, 26 August 2014 – A Mongolian court’s sentencing of a blogger to prison for defaming a high-ranking political figure through social media is a cause for concern, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, said today...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 26 August 2014 – A three-day annual seminar of the Central Asian Youth Network (CAYN), which marks its tenth anniversary this year, began today in Almaty, Kazakhstan...

ALPBACH, Austria, 26 August 2014- Separatism and changes in borders must be firmly rejected and the core OSCE principles followed during the crisis in Ukraine, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier told the European Forum Alpbach this weekend...

Celebrations for Independence Day were held across the country on 24 August. In Luhansk and Donetsk fighting continues to impact on the civilian population. In Donetsk the SMM observed a group of captive men being paraded on the main square...

On 24 August the SMM entered Luhansk city which, due to heavy fighting, it had last visited on 21 July...

ASHGABAT, 25 August 2014 – Twenty officers from the State Border Service of Turkmenistan will take part in a training course on border patrol which was launched at the Imamnazar border crossing point on the Turkmen-Afghan border today...

KYIV, 24 August 2014- The SMM on 23 August (at 17:15hrs) saw a residential area in Donetsk (Kalinski district, around 5km north of the city centre) which was severely damaged by artillery. Residents at the scene told the SMM that the area was shelled at around 16:30hrs.

The SMM monitored impacts of shelling in Donetsk, visited a border crossing point near Kharkiv, and received accounts about illegal dumping of chemical material near Lviv.

DONETSK CHECKPOINT, Russian Federation, 23 August 2014- On 23 August, between 10:00 and 14:15 (local time), a total number of 220 vehicles of the Russian convoy returned from Ukraine and crossed to the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). Already seven vehicles of the convoy had returned to the BCP on the evening of 22 August. The OSCE Observer Mission (OM) concludes that all 227 vehicles of the aid convoy, which had crossed the Donetsk BCP towards Ukraine on 22 August (see Spot Reports of 22 August 2014), have returned to the Russian Federation (RF).

VIENNA, 23 August 2014 – On behalf of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship, Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council, expressed his heartfelt condolences to the Government of Lithuania and the family of Mykola Zelenec, the Honorary Consul of Lithuania, who was murdered by illegally armed groups in Luhansk. The perpetrators must be brought to justice, Greminger underlined, and condemned the tragic murder. This is another sad indicator that violence in the east of Ukraine must be ended and that all needs to be done to de-escalate the situation urgently in order to find back to meaningful dialogue, Greminger concluded.

BERN, August 23, 2014 – Deploring that the agreement by Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the modalities of delivering the convoy aid was not implemented in good faith, Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Minister of Foreign Affairs and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from any actions which could contribute to the further escalation of the situation. Stressing that humanitarian aid had to be delivered in accordance with humanitarian principles and in full respect of Ukrainian sovereignty, Burkhalter urged all sides to help transform this convoy aid into a cooperative endeavor again.

DONETSK CHECKPOINT, Russian Federation, 22 August 2014- On 22 August (until 15:55) a total number of 227 vehicles passed the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP) control area towards the border between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Out of the total number of vehicles, 37 had been inspected. In addition, out of the 227 vehicles, between 27-30 were support vehicles and rest of them trucks.

DONETSK CHECKPOINT, Russian Federation, 22 August 2014- Today at 12:08 local time the first 34 trucks, which had been inspected during the previous day, started to move and crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border without escort of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)...

VIENNA, 22 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today said she was alarmed by yesterday’s violent attack on journalist Ilgar Nasibov in Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan...

VIENNA, 22 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed disappointment at a Kazakhstan Supreme Court decision upholding the closure of Pravdivaya Gazeta for minor administrative violations...

A five-day advanced training course organized by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo for ten members of the Police Close Protection Unit on good practices in the transfer of arrested persons wanted by Kosovo or other jurisdictions, concluded in Lipjan/Lipljan on 22 August 2014...