Contents tagged with OSCE mission
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OSCE drone disappears over the Donbas
The Special Monitoring Mission of the OSCE lost its drone over the territory of the Donbas which is not controlled by Ukraine. The drone was recording the movement of Russian military equipment, reported the command the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation (JFO) citing the SMM report.
The JFO reported that the incident happened at 1:18 AM on October 27. While flying over an area near Kalynove, 72 km east of Donetsk, an SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV spotted a 9K33 Osa surface-to-air …
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OSCE Moldova: Russia conducted unauthorized military exercises in Transnistrian Security Zone
The OSCE Mission in Moldova expressed its concern that on August 14 and 15, the Operational Group of Russian Forces in Transnistria conducted unauthorized military exercises, including the crossing of the Dniester River in the Security Zone, reported the press service of the Moldovan representation of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM).
Note that in accordance with its mandate, the OSCE deployed its observers to the relevant part of the Security Zone. However, the team was banned from …
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Ukrainian Foreign MInister accuses all Russians in OSCE Special Monitoring Mission of espionage
Ukraine believes that all Russian citizens in the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in the Donbas are Russian intelligence agents, stated Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, as reported by Radio Liberty.
“When I tell European friends about the OSCE mission, they ask: why are the mission’s patrols sometimes detained? I say, let’s look at the statistics: our boys detain the patrols only if there are Russians there. Because they come, and within 15-20 minutes the firing begins. We are …
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Russian intelligence gets hold of confidential OSCE Special Monitoring Mission information
Internal documents belonging to OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) observers have found their way into the hands of Russia’s FSB, according to an investigation by the ARD Fakt program.The documents in question are reports on events in the occupied Donbas territories, as well as communication data pertaining to the SMM Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug.
There is also a mini-file on mission members describing their character traits, alcohol consumption habits, financial standings, preferred …
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US State Department accuses Russia of using intimidation tactics against the OSCE mission in the Donbas
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert declared that Russian-backed militants must stop shooting in the direction of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) staff of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Eastern Ukraine.
"I’m seeing reports that Russia-subordinated personnel fired a weapon to intimidate unarmed OSCE SMM monitors in eastern Ukraine," Nauert wrote. "OSCE SMM risks their lives to protect civilians. Russia should stop this deplorable behavior and …
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Russia blocks expansion of OSCE mission to entire Donbas border
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses its disappointment that the Russian Federation remains the only OSCE member that "aggressively blocks" the expansion of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) mandate to cover the entire stretch of the border adjacent to the separatist controlled territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The Ministry released a statement detailing its position in response to a decision by the OSCE Permanent Council to extend the mandate of the OSCE SMM at …
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Russia blocks OSCE placement at border stretch not controlled by Ukraine
Russia has refused the expansion of the OSCE mission along the entire stretch of the border belonging to the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces which are temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian Government, Interfax-Ukraine reports. In connection with this decision, the Ukrainian delegation to the OSCE made a statement expressing deep disappointment in Russia’s sole refusal to give consent.
“Such actions by Russia are evidence of a deliberate unwillingness to facilitate the de- …
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Kyiv: the presence of Russians at the OSCE mission has doubled in one year
The number of representatives of the Russian Federation and countries friendly to it that are part of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) has increased significantly over the past year, notes Iryna Herashchenko, the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Tripartite Contact Group.
"Very often in the mission there are representatives of those countries that have special sentiments towards Moscow, and sometimes they do not …
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Kremlin: the deployment of UN monitors on the Russian border violates the Minsk agreements
Moscow believes that the Ukraine’s insistence on the need to place the UN peacekeeping mission primarily on the Russian-Ukrainian border violates the sequence of the stages of the Minsk agreement, as stated by the official spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
"Immediately after the introduction of the Russian draft resolution, it was distorted in much of Ukrainian mass media, and presented completely differently," Zakharova said. “One of the serious problems in the …
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Russia: Peacekeepers in Donbas needed only for protection of OSCE
Russian Federation Council Chairman Valentina Matviyenko said she sees no logic in the U.S. State Department’s proposal to deploy UN peacekeepers to the border of Russia and Ukraine.
“I see no logic in this suggestion,” said the speaker of the Federation Council to reporters after a meeting with Speaker of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan Akja Nurberdiyewa, as reported by TASS news agency.
Matvienko brought up the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Russian Foreign Ministry to …