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OSCE, Western countries criticize Russia for the war in Ukraine

2024-12-05 21:36:21, Kosova & Bota CNA

Western countries, including the United States, criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the war in Ukraine on Thursday at an annual meeting in Malta of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Ukraine dominated the meeting of foreign ministers politically, although envoys still had to formally approve several agreements, including on the positions of senior officials in the security and human rights body, where Western powers often accuse Russia of violating rights. of man and other international norms.

"My message to the Russian delegation is this: We are not fooled by your lies. We know what you are doing. You are trying to rebuild the Russian empire and we will not let you. We will resist every step of the way," he said in a speech Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told the meeting that his country was continuing to fight for its right to exist.

"And the Russian war criminal at this table should know: Ukraine will win this right and justice will prevail," he said.

Mr Sikorksi, Mr Sybiha and others left the room during Russian Minister Lavrov's speech, as is often the case at international meetings, and Mr Lavrov was absent when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered his speech.

It was Mr Lavrov's first visit to a European Union member state since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow has often blamed the West for the war.

"I regret that our colleague, Mr. Lavrov, left the hall, not showing the decency to listen to us, as we listened to his speech. And of course, our Russian colleague is very capable of flooding the listeners with a tsunami of misinformation," Secretary Blinken said in his remarks at the meeting.

A meeting between Minister Lavrov and Secretary Blinken was not scheduled.

The OSCE meeting attended by foreign ministers and other officials from 57 countries from North America, Europe and Central Asia has been overshadowed by the imminent return to the White House of Donald Trump, whose advisers are proposals are circulating to end the war, which envisages giving up large parts of Ukraine.

As President-elect Trump takes office next month, Western powers reiterated their support for Ukraine and Russia reiterated its criticism of the OSCE, which Mr Lavrov said last year was "essentially turning into an extension of NATO and the European Union".

In his speech, Mr Lavrov compared the current situation to the Cold War, saying there was a greater risk of it becoming "hot".

"We don't want to attack anyone. The United States... is waging war against us using Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces. They supply them with weapons, they help them use long-range weapons against our territory," he said later. Mr. Lavrov at a press conference. Western countries and Ukraine object to the analogy with Nazism.

The OSCE is the successor to an organization that was created during the Cold War so that East and West could engage with each other. In recent years, especially since Russia attacked Ukraine, Moscow has used what is effectively the veto power that member states have to block decision-making.

According to diplomats, Armenia and Azerbaijan are blocking the OSCE budget this year over issues related to their conflict in the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Diplomats say an agreement was reached this week to fill four senior OSCE posts, including that of secretary general, which will be taken by Turkey's Feridun Sinirlioglu, who was foreign minister in an interim government. in 2015.

The most important annual decision, which country will hold the next annual chairmanship of the OSCE, has long been made. Finland will hold this post for the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, the document that laid the foundation for the current OSCE./ VOA