The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was unable to reach a statement or an agreement at a meeting of foreign ministers of the participating states held on Friday in Łódź (Poland), which would reflect the condemnation of Russia for its aggression against Ukraine. , an impasse that calls into question the future of this organization.

Despite the general condemnation of Russia for unleashing this war, the representatives of the OSCE states did not find ways to implement the two discussed proposals, namely Ukraine’s request to exclude Russia from this organization in order to unblock consensus decision-making and to create a special court to consider war crimes committed in Ukraine. AFP, EFE and Agerpres agencies reported on Friday.

As for the first proposal, the OSCE statute simply does not provide for the possibility of excluding a member state, since the spirit of this organization is to maintain an open line of international dialogue in any situation.

As for the creation of a special tribunal whose task will be to document, try and sentence those guilty of war crimes in Ukraine, this is a proposal that, as the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also recognized, first needs to be discussed within the EU, and then in the EU. within the UN.

“There is no legal basis for the exclusion of any member”

North Macedonia’s foreign minister, Buyar Osmani, whose country will take over the OSCE chairmanship from Poland, acknowledged that “there is no legal basis to exclude any member, and to change a rule that imposes consensus, consensus will be needed.”

“We have to find solutions that will allow the organization to remain active,” Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau concluded at the end of the meeting. “The fundamental idea of ​​the functioning of the organization itself was violated by the Russian aggression against Ukraine,” added the acting president of the OSCE.

After the start of this aggression, Russia blocked the restoration of the permanent mission of the OSCE in Ukraine, and also blocked the adoption of the budget and the appointment of the executive bodies of the organization in order to “introduce chaos and paralysis” into its functioning, the head of Polish diplomacy also noted.

Referring to the proposal for a special tribunal, he emphasized that although “the majority of (OSCE) members are in favor of sending the perpetrators of (war) crimes to justice”, it is still necessary to “find a legal solution”.

“General commitment to support Ukraine”

Thus, most of the participants of the Council of Ministers of the OSCE recognized the “unprecedented challenge” faced by this organization, which was created in the context of the Cold War with the aim of bringing the countries that were at risk of reaching the threshold of armed conflict to the same table.

However, OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid called the meeting in Łódź “successful” because there was a “common commitment to support Ukraine and defend the Helsinki Agreements”, referring to the agreement from 1975, which at the time contributed to “de-escalation of tensions”. between the communist bloc and the western one.

“Moscow’s apparent disregard for a possible nuclear disaster should remind us all that no one is immune to the consequences of Putin’s catastrophic war” in Ukraine, said the US representative to the OSCE, Michael Carpent.

In response, the Russian ambassador to this organization, Oleksandr Lukashevich, accused the West of “intransigence in diplomacy and a desire for confrontation,” while Europe refused to create a “security architecture” independent of the United States, he said of the country. that it is “guilty of the brutal 78-day bombing” of the former Yugoslavia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wanted to take part in the OSCE meeting in Lodz, but the Polish authorities declared him persona non grata, a decision Moscow considers “provocative”. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, “in this way, Warsaw not only discredited itself, but also caused irreparable damage to the authority of the entire OSCE.”