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Nagorno Garabagh

The OSCE assessed the level of the ceasefire in the frontline

25 March 2020 23:14 (UTC +04:00)

Throughout 2019, the sides reported comparatively low levels of ceasefire violations, leading to a period of relative stability and calm on the front lines. The Office is the only OSCE field presence in the South Caucasus and the only international presence with access to the front lines, reads the OSCE Annual Report on OSCE activities by Secretary General Thomas Greminer, APA reports.

Thre report notes that the Personal Representative, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, and his team conducted monitoring exercises, provided a continuous review of the situation on the ground, supported the Chairperson-in-Office and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and continued to look for opportunities to promote further confidence-building measures with the consent of the sides. The Office conducted monitoring exercises 18 times on the line of contact and five times on the Armenian–Azerbaijani border.

"These monitoring activities and the logistical support provided by the Office enabled representatives of the High-Level Planning Group to visit the region in April and June and facilitated the Co-Chairs’ visits to the region in February, May and October. The Office also supported visits by the Chairperson-in-Office to the region in March. At the request of the sides, the Office was involved in supporting a humanitarian operation to recover the body of a serviceman from between front-line positions in September. In addition, the Office provided reports and briefings to the Chairperson-in-Office, the OSCE Chairmanship and the Co-Chairs on an ongoing basis. The Personal Representative also briefed and co-operated closely with key interlocutors like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Together with the Co-Chairs, he briefed and exchanged views with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the President of the ICRC in Geneva in September. He accompanied the Co-Chairs to consultations with senior officials from the foreign ministries of France, Sweden and the United States of America. He assisted the Co-Chairs in organizing meetings at the level of foreign ministers in January, April, June and September and was actively engaged in the preparations for the Summit meeting between the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia in Vienna in March," reads the report.