Russia is trying to block work of OSCE, - Blinken
With a full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Russia also attacked the principles of the OSCE - and daily violates them and blocks the work of the entire organization.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said this during a special enhanced meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Censor.NET reports with reference to Ukrinform.
The head of the US foreign policy department reminded that during the creation of the OSCE, a set of fundamental principles designed to ensure peace was approved, including sovereignty, territorial integrity, and respect for human rights. However, "President Putin attacked these principles by launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine."
Blinken added that since then, Russia has brazenly violated them every day, "trying to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine, holding a fake referendum, illegally trying to seize part of Ukrainian territory after its attempts to erase the identity of Ukraine and absorb the country failed."
"The OSCE carries out extremely important work on the investigation of these atrocities (perpetrated by the Russian army in Ukraine. - Ed.) and sends experts to report impartially on the impact of the Russian war on the Ukrainian people.
Instead, Russia is trying to block the organization. The Russian Federation abused the rules to sabotage the OSCE budget, forcing this organization to work from month to month, undermining the ability to carry out long-term planning," the US Secretary of State emphasized.
He added that Russia arbitrarily detained OSCE employees and has been holding them in prison for 10 months: "These detentions have no justification. Moscow must immediately release them."
In addition, the US Secretary of State noted that despite the obstacles from Moscow, the OSCE continues to perform important work and has launched a separate extra-budgetary program to support Ukraine. "We call on all states to join the development of this program, which is financed by voluntary contributions," Blinken summarized.
