The work of the annual Ministerial Meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe began in North Macedonia with the resounding absence of the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries protesting against the presence in Skopje of the foreign minister of Russia.

The tone was already set by the speech with which the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani opened the work of the Synod.

“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is an insult” to the values ​​of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the acting president of the organization Bouyar Osmani. This war “undermines trust, dialogue and our ability to act,” he told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The three Baltic countries consider that Lavrov’s presence “risks legitimizing the aggressor that is Russia as a full member of the community of free countries.”

“Mr. Lavrov’s place is in a special court, not at the OSCE table,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsachna said.

Kiev is also boycotting the Summit, denouncing the presence of “a state that launched the largest military attack in Europe since the end of World War II.” And Poland refused in 2022 to allow the Russian foreign minister to participate in the OSCE summit it hosted while calling Lavrov’s presence in Skopje unacceptable.

Multilateralism

Sergey Lavrov arrived at night in North Macedonia, “despite the intrigues of enemies”the representative of Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram..

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, justified the presence of the Russian foreign minister with the argument that “common goal is to keep alive “multilateralism” (in international relations)’.

Mr. Lavrov “needs to hear from everyone, again, why Russia is doomed and isolated. It will be a good opportunity for him to hear the participants of this meeting explain to him why Russia is doomed and isolated. He will then be able to convey to Mr. Kremlin that the European Union and the OSCE remain united in condemning Russia’s aggressive and illegal behavior,” he added.

The United States supports the European agency. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made a stop in Skopje yesterday to express his support, but will not participate in the work of the Summit today and tomorrow.

The OSCE was founded in 1975, when the Western bloc and the Soviets agreed to create a platform for dialogue between the two camps. Today, 57 countries participate in the OSCE.