At meeting in Skopje, 55 OSCE participants were able to tell Lavrov truth - Osmani
During the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council, 55 delegates of the participating countries had the opportunity to tell Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov the truth, condemning Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
This was announced during a press conference in Skopje on Friday by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani, Censor.NET reports with reference to Ukrinform.
"We strongly condemned the aggressor, in this case the Russian Federation, which not only caused enormous human suffering in Ukraine, but also challenged the very existence of the organization. But we have also turned the OSCE into a platform for holding Russia politically and legally accountable for its barbarities in Ukraine. Every week at the table of the Permanent Council in Vienna, 56 participating States told the truth to the Russian ambassador, just as 55 ministers of the participating States told the truth to the Russian Foreign Minister here at the OSCE Ministerial Council," he said.
According to Osmani, "there was no bargaining on the organization's non-negotiable principles and commitments" during the adoption of a consensus decision on the new OSCE chairman-in-office and the extension of the mandate of its four top officials.
"In the most polarizing year for an organization in its 50 years, we were able to make five key decisions by consensus that are critical to the very existence of the organization's organism. Have we gone beyond the principles and commitments of the organization? I would say no. Because from the first day I took office as the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, I said that I would stand guard over the principles and commitments of the organization. And these principles and commitments will not be the subject of negotiations, just as they have not been the subject of negotiations during the year," he commented on the question of whether like-minded countries made concessions to the Russian Federation to unblock a consensus decision.
According to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, all points of view were taken into account when making the decision.
"ОБСЄ - це організація, яка базується на консенсусі. Як було сказано сьогодні, консенсус закладений в ДНК організації. Консенсус – це фундамент, на якому ми будуємо цю співпрацю в організації. Не існує жодного рішення в Раді міністрів, яке не було б прийняте без консенсусу. Тому були враховані точки зору всіх 57 держав-учасниць", - сказав він
