🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks during the 30th meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council (November 30, 2023)

Key points:

• In just over a year, the Helsinki Final Act will mark its 50th anniversary. Regrettably, the OSCE is approaching this milestone in a lamentable condition, and its prospects remain uncertain.

• Unfortunately, Western political elites appropriated the role of rulers of humanity’s destiny and made a shortsighted choice in favour of NATO rather than the OSCE. They embraced a philosophy of containment, geopolitical zero-sum games, and the leader-follower logic. The bloc’s reckless expansion to the East, which started after the dissolution of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation, was a key component of this approach.

• The genuine intentions of the Western politicians again revealed themselves when Washington and Brussels rejected Russia’s December 2021 proposals on legally binding security guarantees in Europe.

• In a bid to crush the Russian economy, the United States and its European satellites have introduced thousands of anti-Russia sanctions, thereby making impossible any significant East-West practical cooperation in what was once our common region.

• The Kiev regime is Washington’s investment into its egoistic interests of deterring Russia and resolving its own problems at the expense of others. This applies to the removal of economic competitors, primarily the EU.

• The current situation is a direct consequence of the persistent attempts by our Western neighbours to ensure their dominance, as they shamelessly use the OSCE to aggressively push through their self-serving interests and consciously undermine the fundamental principle of consensus and the culture of diplomacy.

• There are no particular reasons to be optimistic now. Essentially, the OSCE is being reformatted to become an appendage of NATO and the EU. This organisation (let’s face it) is on the brink of the abyss.

❓ Hence, a simple question: Does it make any sense to invest in any effort to revive it?

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🇷🇺🇰🇿 On 30 November, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met briefly with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje.

They discussed topical issues on the bilateral and regional agendas in the context of the outcome of President Vladimir Putin's official visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan on November 9, as well as the development of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan in the OSCE and other international platforms.

🇷🇺🇲🇰🇲🇹 On November 30, on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Skopje, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia and OSCE Chairman-in-Office Bujar Osmani and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta and future OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ian Borg.

The state of affairs in the OSCE was discussed. The Russian Side emphasised that in order for the organisation to overcome its current deep crisis and return to its normal activity, it is necessary to resume a mutually respectful and equal dialogue between the Member States, observe the fundamental rule of consensus, and strictly follow the Rules of Procedure.

🔴 #LIVE: Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions following the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje

🔗 https://www.ruptly.tv/event_route?link_id=319350ec-cd39-4f95-badf-dc74045d5b3a&provider_id=14

🔗 https://mid.ru/en/press_service/video

🔴 #ПрямойЭфир: Выступление и ответы на вопросы СМИ Министра иностранных дел России С.В.Лаврова по итогам СМИД ОБСЕ в Скопье

🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uHtZ-Z9DjU

🔗 https://rutube.ru/video/531d1b6f1ba3847d7a268193e9eff60c/

🔗 https://vk.com/mid?w=wall-70034991_712858

🔗 https://mid.ru/ru/press_service/video

🎙 Выступление и ответы на вопросы СМИ С.В.Лаврова по итогам 30-го заседания СМИД ОБСЕ (Скопье, 1 декабря 2023 года)

💬 Сожалею, что к 30-му заседанию СМИД ОБСЕ мы пришли в ситуации, когда не получается праздновать этот юбилей. Наблюдаем полную деградацию всего того, что было создано в Организации.

Убедились, что наши западные коллеги не извлекли никаких уроков из своей провальной линии на разрушение ОБСЕ. Продолжают её «добивать» с упорством, заслуживающим лучшего применения.

👉 В военно-политической сфере всё было разрушено, включая отказ ратифицировать адаптированный Договор об обычных вооружённых силах в Европе.

👉 Вторая «корзина» уничтожена беспрецедентными санкциями, которыми в огромном количестве Евросоюз и США «обложили» Российскую Федерацию.

👉 Про права человека и говорить нечего. Долгие годы не возникало никаких проблем с гибелью детей, женщин, гражданских лиц в целом, с полной торгово-экономической блокадой Донбасса.

Македонское председательство выдвинуло правильный девиз – «всё это о людях» («It’s about people»). Вчера во время рабочего ланча обращал внимание коллег на то, что я исходил из того, что когда мы говорим «это о людях», то имеем в виду всех граждан стран-членов ОБСЕ и даже «неграждан», которые сохраняются в этом позорном качестве в Латвии и Эстонии.

🤦‍♂️ На самом деле получается, что весь «сыр-бор» и беспокойство о людях – это о тех четырёх, возглавляющих различные подразделения ОБСЕ.

Мне безразлично, чем закончатся эти «посиделки» и попытки выторговать лишний день/неделю, чтобы продолжалось грубейшее попрание всех принципов ОБСЕ.

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🎙Read excerpts from the statement of Permanent Representative of Russia to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich at the closing session of the 30th OSCE Ministerial Council

📍 Skopje, 1 December 2023

💬 We are grateful to the North Macedonian CiO for the effective conduct of OSCE Ministerial Council. We consider the exchange of views to be very useful in the current difficult situation, despite the opposite views and assessments of pSs

🤝 We are ready to work together if OSCE can return to the path of open & honest dialogue, overcome craving for confrontation and pursuit of narrow group interests and show readiness for equal cooperation with unconditional respect for its rule of consensus
 
❕We hope that Malta as OSCE Chairman-in-Office will work in 2024 in strict accordance with the existing mandate & will be able to restore the culture of diplomatic communication and intensive consultations

🎙 Выступление Постоянного представителя России при ОБСЕ А.К.Лукашевича на заключительной сессии 30-го заседания СМИД ОБСЕ

📍Скопье, 1 декабря 2023 года

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💬 Признательны северомакедонскому Действующему председательству за эффективное проведение СМИД ОБСЕ. Состоявшийся обмен мнениями в нынешних непростых условиях считаем весьма полезным, несмотря на ожидаемые прямо противоположные взгляды и оценки у государств-участников

🤝 Готовы к совместной работе, если ОБСЕ сможет вернуться на путь открытого и честного диалога, преодолеть тягу к конфронтации и преследованию узкогрупповых интересов, проявить готовность к равноправному сотрудничеству при безусловном соблюдении правила консенсуса

❕Рассчитываем, что Мальта в качестве Действующего председателя ОБСЕ в 2024 году будет работать в строгом соответствии с имеющимся мандатом, сумеет восстановить культуру дипломатического общения и интенсивных консультаций

📄Совместное заявление глав делегаций Республики Беларусь, Республики Казахстан, Кыргызской Республики, Российской Федерации, Республики Таджикистан о текущей ситуации на пространстве ОБСЕ в сфере безопасности,
принятое «на полях» СМИД ОБСЕ в Скопье, 1 декабря 2023г.🇧🇾 🇰🇿 🇰🇬 🇷🇺 🇹🇯

💬 Заявляем о важности сохранения ОБСЕ как регионального форума, действующего на основе правила консенсуса и принципа суверенного равенства государств, в интересах укрепления безопасности и развития сотрудничества между государствами-участниками

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🎙 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions following the 30th OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting

📍 Skopje, December 1, 2023

I regret that we have approached the 30th OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in an atmosphere that is not conducive to anniversary celebrations. We are seeing the complete degradation of everything that has been created within the OSCE (previously within this Conference) in all three security dimensions.

We have become convinced that our Western colleagues have not learned any lessons from their disastrous policy line towards destroying the OSCE. They continue to finish it off with a zeal worthy of better use.

👉 Everything has been destroyed in the military-political area. They refused to ratify the Adapted CFE Treaty and many other agreements that helped maintain a security balance.

👉 Everything has been destroyed in the economic area as well. This second “basket” was demolished by the unprecedented sanctions that the EU and the US have imposed on the Russia Federation.

👉 There is nothing to say about human rights. No problems at all arose for many years despite the killing of children, women and civilians in general, and the full trade and economic blockade of Donbass and the suspension of water supplies to Russian Crimea.

The Macedonian Chairmanship set the right motto – “It’s about people.” During yesterday’s working lunch, I told my colleagues that when talking about people we were referring to all citizens of the OSCE countries and even “non-citizens” that are kept in this shameful status in Latvia and Estonia.

🤦‍♂️ In reality, it appears that all this excitement and concern about people is limited to the four heads of the OSCE offices. At any rate, I cannot reach any other conclusion from the nervous activity of our Western colleagues.

I do not care about the outcome of this get-together and the attempts to bargain for an extra day or week to continue the crude violation of all OSCE principles.

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📑 The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation has compiled the latest report on the glorification of Nazism, the proliferation of neo-Nazism and other practices that escalate modern forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, 2023 edition.

The report has been drawn up in line with Russia’s efforts to preserve the historical truth about the course and outcome of World War II.

Primarily caused by blatant double standards and revanchism, the negative tendencies described in the report become more prominent every year.

❗️ This year is sadly no exception

<...>

There is a significant number of countries today where Nazi collaborators are now honoured as “fighters for independence” of these countries, and where all possible means are used to reshape public opinion to take a different tone. <...> Russia sees increasingly more evidence that the roles played by the officials of these countries are damaging their own people’s interests.

In February 2022, the collective West gained another impetus and motivation to justify its Russophobic activity after Russia started the special military operation to de-Nazify and demilitarise Ukraine and protect the civilian population of Donbass. In reality, the West’s activity took the shape of total discrimination against Russians, which persists to this day.

The exposed tendencies only confirm Russia’s claim that racial discrimination and the glorification of Nazism create a serious threat to the values of true democracy and the protection of human rights, seriously challenging international and regional security.

☝️ Importantly, the absolute majority of members of the global community shares Russia’s approaches to countering the glorification of Nazism.

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🕯 On December 3, Russia commemorates the Day of the Unknown Soldier, a day established to immortalise the heroic deeds of all soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the Motherland and remain unnamed. Today, ceremonies are being held in remembrance of those fallen heroes both in Russia and abroad.

The date was not chosen by chance: on December 3, 1966, a solemn burial ceremony for the remains of an unknown soldier took place in the Alexander Garden near the Kremlin Wall. These remains were discovered during construction work on the 41st km of the Leningrad Motorway, where intense battles for Moscow occurred in December 1941.

The soldier was found in a well-preserved uniform, but he had no identification documents. To this day, his name, like those of tens of thousands of other heroes who sacrificed their lives to defend Moscow, remains unknown.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier stands as a monument of eternal glory for all those who perished on the battlefield while defending their homeland. In May 1967, the Eternal Flame, brought from the Field of Mars in Leningrad, was ignited near the memorial. In December 1997, a permanent honour guard post was established at the monument.

💬 The inscription on the monument reads: “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal.”

Approximately two million Russian and Soviet citizens went missing during past and present wars and conflicts. The Russian Defence Ministry conducts regular search activities and works persistently to immortalise the memory of these fallen heroes. Abroad, significant efforts in this regard are undertaken by Russian diplomats.

❗️ Regrettably, memorials dedicated to Soviet liberator soldiers are presently being destroyed in some Eastern European countries as part of a campaign to falsify history. The Russian Foreign Ministry brings these outrageous facts to public attention and actively works to preserve and restore these memorials. The memory of those who sacrificed their lives for our future remains immortal.