At a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the West was nullifying any chance of reviving the grouping, which he said was on the verge of collapse.
At a speech in Skopje, the capital of the North Macedonia, Sergei Lavrov said:
There are no particular reasons for optimism at present. The OSCE is essentially being turned into an appendage of NATO and the European Union. The organisation, let’s face it, is on the edge of a precipice. A simple question arises: does it make sense to make efforts to revitalise it?
Lavrov accused the West of unleashing a “hybrid war” against Russia. He also suggested that the European Union had turned into an “aggressive political project”.
Sergei Lavrov had a conversation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Northern Macedonia, OSCE Chairman-in-Office B. Osmani, and the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta, incoming OSCE Chairman-in-Office I. Borch.
The state of affairs in the OSCE was discussed. From the Russian side it was stressed that in order for the Organization to emerge from the current deep crisis and return to normal activities it is necessary to resume mutually respectful and equal dialogue among participating States, to observe the fundamental rule of consensus and to follow the Rules of Procedure clearly.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is holding the Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 gathering of foreign ministers from its 57 member states in the North Macedonian capital, Skopje. The OSCE is the successor to the Cold War-era organisation, in which Soviet and Western powers interact.
