Weekly update from the OSCE Observer Mission at Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk based on information as of 10:00 (Moscow time), 5 November 2014
This report is for media and the general public. SUMMARY Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) is operating at full capacity. Cross-border traffic flows slowed down slightly at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs) and the total number of border-crossings was the lowest since August. As in previous weeks, more people...
U.S. midterm elections demonstrated commitment to democracy, but role of money increasingly problematic, say OSCE parliamentary observers
WASHINGTON, 5 November 2014 – The 2014 United States midterm elections were another demonstration of the country’s commitment to democracy, as voters could readily inform themselves about their political options and could freely cast their ballots, observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) concluded. However, the increasing...
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), 4 November 2014
This report is for media and the general public. The provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum as well as the activities of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination remained at the focus of SMM monitoring. In Donetsk and Luhansk the situation remained tense. In Donetsk the SMM heard shelling from the northern outskirts of the city....
It’s No Time for EU Wobbling Over Ukraine
Ukraine has experienced a number of failed revolutions. The hope today is that the October 26 elections will finally bring about the change the country needs. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
The Kremlin Reinvention of Ukraine’s History
For two hundred years, Ukraine and Russia have conflicted over Ukraine’s history and sovereignty. Recently the Kremlin has tried to rebrand large regions of Ukraine as Novorossiya, or ‘New Russia’. The Ukrainians are fighting back, however. Long-term implications of this change in attitudes have not yet fully dawned on the Kremlin,...
Judy Asks: Can Poroshenko Reform Ukraine?
Every week, a selection of leading experts answer a new question from Judy Dempsey on the foreign and security policy challenges shaping Europe’s role in the world. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
Why Ukraine’s future is vital to West
Ukrainians have voted, and they have overwhelmingly chosen to stay the course on European integration. …read more Source: Woodrow Wilson International Center for...
Putin’s New Hot Frozen Conflict
It has been quite a year for Vladimir Putin, and a mark of shame to the West and the institutions of international law it thought it had created. In mid-2013, it became increasingly obvious that the Russian adventure in Georgia had neither been a one-off nor a taste of things to come. Putin had learned two things from 2008: The first, that he had...
Ukrainian Separatist Rebels Elect New Leaders for Breakaway Republic
Separatists recently held an election in the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, asserting their independence from Kiev. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
Stability, security and respect for human rights are shared UN and OSCE values, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon tells OSCE Permanent Council
VIENNA, 4 November 2014 – The OSCE plays a pivotal role in easing divisions, healing wounds and managing change, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, told the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna today, and emphasized the close UN-OSCE partnership in enhancing conflict prevention and resolution. “We are a world in transition. Civil conflicts,...
