News and press releases

This update is provided for media and general public. The SMM facilitated access to the Malaysia Airline Flight MH17 wreckage site for Dutch, Malaysian and Australian experts who are investigating the crash. The SMM observed damage caused by apparent shelling around Donetsk airport.

COPENHAGEN, 5 August 2014 – Joao Soares (MP, Portugal), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on the South Caucasus, today expressed deep concern over recent deadly violence along the Line of Contact and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and urged all parties to the conflict to recommit themselves to finding a peaceful resolution...

KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY, Russian Federation, 4 August 2014- On 1-2 August 2014 Ukrainian army officers made contact with the OSCE Observer Mission (OM) to request OSCE assistance to open a passageway to the Gukovo border crossing point (BCP) of the Russian Federation (RF) for several hundred Ukrainian servicemen. On 2 August, an initial group of 12 Ukrainian troops crossed into the RF. On 4 August, the OSCE Observer Mission witnessed the passage of 437 Ukrainian servicemen. They were sent to a nearby transit facility and, according to the local Russian authorities, all of them were set to return to Ukraine in the hours to come.

Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Russian Federation, 3 August 2014- Fighting between Ukrainian troops and militants resumed around Gukovo Border Crossing Point (BCP). Two shells fell in the BCP compound one of which provoked light building damage.

The SMM – accompanied by Dutch and Australian investigators – accessed the wreckage site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. Despite instances of shelling in the general area, the investigators retrieved the personal belongings of victims and some human remains. The SMM received information suggesting that shelling in Luhansk city was increasingly impacting on the civilian population...

TBILISI, 4 August 2014 – Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, made the following statement today following recent media reports...

BERN/MOSCOW/PARIS/WASHINGTON, 2 August 2014 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister, Didier Burkhalter, together with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France, expressed their deep concern about the intense upsurge in violence along the Line of Contact and Armenian-Azerbaijani border that resulted in numerous casualties reported in recent days. They extended their condolences to the families of the victims and shared the anguish of their grievous losses...