Contents tagged with OSCE
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Ukrainian MFA demands that Russian-backed separatists stop attempting to intimidate OSCE
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has demanded that Russian-backed separatists stop trying to intimidate OSCE observers in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the provocations that are regularly carried out by Russian-controlled fighters against the observers of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE in Ukraine with the aim of preventing effective operations of the mission," a statement posted on the ministry’s …
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Russia will not allow the OSCE mission in the Crimea
Moscow will not grant the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission access to the Crimea, as stated by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation at the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich, RIA Novosti reports.
"The Crimea is a Russian territory. We had already stipulated long ago, that the mission has nothing to do with the Crimea as it is a part of the Russian Federation. But our Western colleagues interpret this to mean the whole territory of Ukraine, including the Crimea," he said.
According to …
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OSCE notes use of artillery in Svitlodarsk-Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine
At a press briefing on Friday, Alexander Hug, the Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, said that monitors had recorded the use of artillery in the Svitlodarsk-Debaltseve area in the Donetsk region, RBC-Ukraine reported.
“We have registered that artillery was used in the last week. 48% of violations were in this region [Svitlodarsk],” Hug stated.
The Principal Deputy Chief Monitor said that the OSCE is concerned about the situation that has …
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OSCE refuses to say if it will send observers to elections in Crimea
The head of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Jan Petersen, has refused to answer the question of whether the observers will be sent to the occupied Crimea.
As a UNIAN correspondent in Russia reported, at a press conference in Moscow, Petersen said, “We are currently working on where our observers will be sent, so at the moment I'm not going to answer this question... We can't say anything specific about where the observers will be sent," …
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OSCE continues to observe presence of military equipment in residential areas in eastern Ukraine
OSCE observers continue to detect the military equipment positioned in the residential areas in eastern Ukraine as stated by the by the Deputy Head of the Special OSCE monitoring mission in the Donbas, Alexander Hug. In particular the military equipment of the separatists was detected in Novohryhorivka and Debaltseve. The information on the locations of the equipment was gathered by the OSCE UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles).
“Needless to say that where there are weapons there is violence,” said …
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OSCE mission threatened at gunpoint in eastern Ukraine
The observers of the OSCE SMM reported that they were threatened by two armed supporters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) near Lukove, 72 kilometers south of Donetsk according to their July 29th report.
OSCE SMM members were stopped by two armed representatives of the DPR who blocked the road with a jeep and pointed weapons in their direction. They ordered SMM observers to leave this area, the report explained. The OSCE SMM representatives followed the order.
The report …
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Kuchma’s press secretary: Separatists refuse to negotiate on prisoner exchange
In the framework of the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, separatist representatives from the self-proclaimed Republics of the Donbas refuse to hold negotiations regarding the release of prisoners. This was reported on the Facebook page of Darka Olifer, the press-secretary of the Ukrainian representative in the Trilateral Contact Group, Leonid Kuchma, regarding the settlement of the conflict in the Donbas.
According to Olifer, representatives from the so-called DPR and LPR “ …
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Steinmeier proposes special status for Transnistria
The German Minister for Foreign Affairs called for the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict by granting special status to Transnistria.
The acting chairman-in-office of the OSCE, German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, stated the need to resolve the Transnistrian conflict before it escalates further.
“Old conflicts that we call frozen, they aren’t so frozen. There are always risks of these conflicts transitioning into the ‘hot’ stage. We saw it in the case of the …
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OSCE mini drone comes under fire in LPR-controlled area
A mini unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) belonging to the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission came under fire near Kalynove, an area controlled by the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, according to a report released by the OSCE.
“The SMM heard four shots which it assessed as being fired from an assault rifle targeting the UAV. At the time of the incident, the UAV was flying 800 meters south-west of the launch site. The shots were fired from a location assessed as less than one kilometer west of …
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OSCE: Ukraine doesn't control 408 km of its border with Russia
The Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Alexander Hug, discussed the issues facing the staff of the mission in eastern Ukraine.
"The greatest difficulty we face is along the supposedly secure zone along the contact line and mainly at the moment in areas not under the control of the Ukrainian government. This includes the area between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, also not under the control of the Ukrainian government,” Hug said in an …