Russia's foreign minister does not rule out blocking OSCE personnel decisions

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said his government has not yet agreed to vote on critical decisions for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) despite other states' concessions to his attendance. Source: Lavrov, during a press conference on 1 December at an OSCE meeting, as reported by a European Pravda correspondent from Skopje Details: Lavrov criticised the Macedonian leadership and other organisation members for pushing for personnel decisions on appointing a new OSCE management. "The Macedonian chairmanship put forward the right motto - it's all about people...

But it turned out that it's all about the four people in charge of the OSCE departments," he claimed.

The OSCE ministerial meeting is explicitly held to adopt previously discussed decisions of political importance, such as approving the new chairmanship, the post of the organisation's secretary general, the chief of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), etc. As European Pravda previously reported, the very reason Lavrov was invited to Skopje was to make these decisions after a range of sanctions restrictions had been lifted at his request. Meanwhile, Lavrov's remarks suggest Russia is not ready to vote on these personnel decisions.

"I don't care how these gatherings end, where they are bargaining with us over a few days or weeks... And I don't care about the fate of these people," the official admitted. The day before, Lavrov claimed there was no point in preserving the OSCE.

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