Lavrov in Skopje: OSCE in a sorry state; Kosovo taken from Serbia without a referendum

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, stated today in his address to the OSCE Ministerial Council that the organization was in a sorry state and that its perspectives were unclear.

"In just over a year, the Helsinki Final Act will turn 50. Regrettably, we can say that the OSCE is approaching this anniversary in a sorry state, and its perspectives are unclear," Lavrov said.

He noted that it was the NATO countries and the European Union that had destroyed the military-political dimension of the OSCE back in 1999. At that time, NATO, he reminded, brutally attacked Yugoslavia, a member of the OSCE and the UN.

"And in 2008, by violating UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and the principle of the inviolability of borders in Europe from the Helsinki Final Act, Kosovo was taken from Serbia without any referendum," Lavrov said.

According to him, Western countries use the OSCE for NATO's interests.

"The NATO expansion to the East is one of the factors undermining security in Europe," Lavrov pointed out, and he noted that last year, to the question addressed to the US about how they commented on the fact that they should not strengthen their security at the expense of others, he had received no answer.

He also mentioned that the West, by imposing sanctions on Russia, had wanted to destroy the Russian economy, and the EU had submitted to the United States in doing so.

"The US and their European satellites have imposed thousands of sanctions on Russia, putting an end to the broad practical cooperation between the East and the West in our once-common region," Lavrov said.

He mentioned that Kyiv's goal was to eradicate everything Russian, surpassing everything so far, as Ukraine denied the existence of Russians and their key role in the creation of Ukraine.

"People there are deprived of contact with Russian culture, language, books, and media, and the OSCE remains silent about it," Lavrov said.

It remained silent, he says, and Brussels continues to remain silent, not emphasizing the need to respect the rights of all national minorities, as numerous documents outline.

"Those who are supposed to ensure media freedom stay silent when we ask them why all the media that write things contrary to the Western ideology are shutting down," Lavrov said.