The meeting of the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, scheduled for December 1 and 2 in Skopje, North Macedonia, risks coming to an end, due to the absence of four members out of the 57 what this organization means and especially the presence of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
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This Tuesday, Ukraine, then the Baltic countries, announced the boycott of the annual meeting following the confirmation of the presence of Sergei Lavrov, despite the announced arrival of American Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Absences which demonstrate that this organization, created in 1995 on the basis of the former Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, no longer functions.
It was the decision of the Bulgarian authorities to authorize the flight over their airspace by a plane carrying the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs which was the detonator of these announcements of defection. Ukraine, but also Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have therefore confirmed their absence from the next annual meeting to denounce Russia’s presence.
“ Legitimize the aggressor that is Russia »
A boycott because, according to the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russia intends to take advantage of its presence to spread its propaganda and undermine Western unity. Russia was absent from the last annual meeting held in Poland due to lack of overflight authorization from Warsaw.
In a joint statement, the Baltic States explain that the participation of Sergei Lavrov risks, “ to legitimize the aggressor Russia as a member of our community of free nations. A country that has blocked any decision by this organization for years “.
Under such conditions, explains the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the presence of a Russian delegation at the ministerial meeting for the first time since the start of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine will only aggravate the crisis into which Russia has dragged the OSCE. An organization which will now have to evolve if it wishes to continue to function.