Chief Monitor of OSCE Mission to Ukraine welcomes decisions on mine action and prohibition of live-fire exercises by Trilateral Contact Group
MINSK, 3 March 2016 – The Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) Ertugrul Apakan welcomed the decisions on mine action and prohibition of live-fire exercises, endorsed yesterday in Minsk by the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG). As the co-ordinator of the TCG’s working group on security issues, the SMM Chief...
Appointment of a new prime minister will mean loss of time for reforms
None of Ukraine’s international creditors insisted on Yatseniuk as a candidate for prime minister of Ukraine right away, and no one is holding on to him now. For international partners, it is important that reforms are taking place, and that the country does not get into political turbulence. Although what is currently happening in Ukraine...
Weekly Update from the OSCE Observer Mission at Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk based on information as of 1 March 2016
SUMMARY Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCP). The overall cross-border traffic decreased at both BCPs. OPERATIONAL REMARKS The OM is currently operating with 21 permanent international staff members (incl. the Chief Observer). The mission is fulfilling...
To Be or Not to Be? Ukraine’s Minsk Process
An agreement to alleviate the conflict in eastern Ukraine has broken down. How can the peace process be revived? …read more Source: Carnegie...
Nothing To See Here: Russian TV Suppresses Story Of Alleged Beheading By Nanny
Whatever the motive, the decision to withhold the story from viewers was diametrically opposed to the approach the same channels tend to take when an ethnic Russian is the alleged victim of violence abroad. …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
Ukraine’s Government Bans Criticism “To Restore Public Trust”
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has come up with a solution for fighting all the ills like corruption and lack of reform that are seriously damaging the country’s reputation. They have issued a resolution which demands that civil servants, and even the heads of state enterprises refrain from publicly criticizing the authorities and...
Ukraine: Fantastically Corrupt
Ukraine is again failing to break away from its corrupt, oligarchic post-communist transition. The high hopes for reducing corruption after the Euromaidan revolution have faded, and the country is looking for new leadership in an unlikely place: Georgia. RealTime post by Simeon Djankov. …read more Source: Peterson Institute for...
OSCE/ODIHR event at the European Parliament highlights importance of ethical standards in enhancing public trust in democratic institutions
225366 Good practices and the challenges in developing and implementing ethics reform were the focus of discussions during an event co-organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 1 March 2016 in Brussels as part of Ukraine Week in the European Parliament. Organized in co-operation with the USAID RADA...
Ukraine introduces OSCE-supported national strategy on development of civil society
Andrii Dziubenko Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko on 26 February 2016 approved a new national strategy for the development of civil society for 2016-2020, a document which was drafted with the support of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine in partnership with the Presidential Administration of Ukraine. The strategy is based on a...
Kremlin Denies Trying to Stifle Story of Child’s Murder
Major Russian broadcasters downplayed story of toddler’s decapitation by her nanny, even as it went viral worldwide. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
