Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken of “cowardice” for not coming with him to a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Friday in Skopje.

Lavrov said that the two leaders seek to “isolate” Russia, blaming their absence from the OSCE Ministerial Council on the fact that “they are cowards who want to avoid an honest conversation about the facts”, EFE and Agerpres reported.

EU foreign policy chief Borrell and US Secretary of State Blinken attended a dinner on Wednesday, the day before the start of the meeting, to which Lavrov was not invited, to express his support for Ukraine. of the Russian invasion, but did not participate in the opening of the work of the Cathedral.

Lavrov’s participation in the meeting, which was allowed by North Macedonia, which holds the OSCE chairmanship, forced Ukraine and four NATO and EU countries – Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania – to decide not to send their foreign ministers to the Council. Even the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, Luminica Odobescu, did not participate in the official meeting of the Council of Ministers of the OSCE.

Lavrov was unable to take part in last year’s Council because Poland, which presides over the OSCE, did not allow him to enter its territory.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia said that his presence at the Council this year is a sign that his country is not isolated in the OSCE.

Lavrov: “Our Western colleagues have not learned their lesson”

Lavrov on Friday insisted on his pessimism about the future of the OSCE, created in 1975 as a forum for dialogue between the two antagonistic blocs during the Cold War.

“We are witnessing the total degradation of everything that was created on the three dimensions of security: military-political, economic, humanitarian and human rights. Our Western colleagues, as we have seen, have not learned a single lesson from their disastrous policy of destroying the OSCE,” he accused.

“In Europe, we continue – with a persistence that could be better used – to put an end to the organization,” Lavrov said, as quoted by AFP.

In a hall filled with journalists, the Russian minister declared that “the organization has been transformed into something that evokes nothing but indifference to its future.”

Blockades of Russia

Russia, with the exclusive support of Belarus, prevented Estonia from chairing the OSCE next year, forcing an emergency decision in the form of Malta’s candidacy.

He also refuses to extend the mandate of the organization’s secretary general and three other senior officials without whom it cannot function properly, a fact supported by most of the other 57 OSCE members.

Lavrov: “Those on the other side do not dance tango, but breakdance”

At the same time, Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow does not see any signs from Kyiv or the West that they are ready for a political solution to the conflict in Ukraine, reports EFE.

“So far, we have not seen any signal from Kyiv or its patrons that they are ready for a political agreement,” said the head of Russian diplomacy at a press conference in Skopje.

He reminded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree banning negotiations with the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“And if you listen to the leaders of NATO and the European Union, they say only one thing: we are obliged to support Ukraine, because if Ukraine is defeated, it will be the defeat of the entire West,” Lavrov said and added. that “it takes two to start a political process, like a tango, but those on the other side are not dancing a tango, but a breakdance.”

“And you have to be a soloist there,” the Russian minister repeated, stressing that Moscow sees no reason to revise the goals of the military campaign in Ukraine, which Putin, giving the order, defined as the “demilitarization and denazification” of the neighboring country.

Lavrov: “I don’t care much about the results of this meeting”

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is an “insult” to the values ​​of the OSCE, said the current OSCE President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Buyar Osmani, at the opening of the debate.

This statement was followed by dozens of condemnations, but not all of them were heard by Sergey Lavrov, who left the hall several times.

“I don’t care much about the results of this OSCE meeting,” said the Russian Foreign Minister during a press conference.

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