Ukraine in OSCE: Lavrov threatens Moldova as ’next victim’ at OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Skopje
At the recent OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Skopje, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov threatened Moldova as the "next victim". His messages indicate that next year, Russia will continue to undermine the organisation’s activities and wage war against Ukrainians.
This was stated by Ukraine's Permanent Representative to International Organisations in Vienna, Yevhen Tsymbalyuk, during a regular meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrinform.
"Unfortunately, it has become a bad tradition for the Russian minister to abuse the OSCE Ministerial meeting to threaten OSCE participating states. In Stockholm, it was Ukraine, and this time in Skopje, it was Moldova, which Lavrov warned would be the "next victim". Who will be next? This behaviour is absolutely unacceptable," said Tsymbalyuk.
He added that the OSCE should "mobilise all its preventive efforts".
"After all, the messages voiced in Skopje eloquently indicate that next year Russia will continue to focus on waging war against Ukraine and undermining the OSCE through the abuse of the consensus rule. Thus, we must focus our joint efforts on how to save Europe from Russia and isolate it within the OSCE," said Tsymbalyuk.
According to him, "while Moscow is trying to trap us in endless negotiations, consultations and discussions, we need to remember about people who do not have access to basic services under Russian occupation, such as healthcare if they do not have a Russian passport, but also children under occupation who are subjected to military indoctrination by Russia."
Tsymbaliuk also pointed to a 40% increase in the Russian military budget to finance the war against Ukraine in 2024.
"It is obvious that Putin is not interested in peace. He believes that he has enough resources to rebuild his army for a new offensive, split our unity and undermine internal stability in Ukraine. We have to plan our counteraction accordingly to end this war with a just peace based on the Ukrainian Peace Formula," he said.
