Alexander Schallenberg welcomed the choice to permit Moscow’s overseas minister to attend the OSCE assembly in Skopje this week
Austrian International Minister Alexander Schallenberg has mentioned he welcomes the choice by the North Macedonian Group for Safety and Co-operation (OSCE) Chairmanship to permit Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov to attend the annual assembly in Skopje this week.
The summit of OSCE overseas ministers will happen from November 30 to December 1, with Lavrov already flying to the North Macedonian capital late Wednesday. Lavrov’s airplane flew over Turkey and Greece, though it was initially deliberate that he would fly over Bulgaria.
Final yr, Schallenberg recalled, when Poland took over the one-year rotating chair on the OSCE and refused to let Lavrov attend, he was the one Western overseas minister to criticize the group for not inviting the Russian diplomat.
“The West should not be afraid to sit down down with the Russians. I imagine the tendency to dive into our personal echo chambers in overseas politics is life-threatening,” he mentioned, including that the diplomacy carried out within the OSCE is “traditional multilateralism in the very best sense.”
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania mentioned they won’t attend the OSCE assembly, condemning Moscow’s anticipated participation within the occasion, and saying they “deeply remorse” the choice to ask Lavrov. Polish International Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek additionally instructed reporters he wouldn’t participate within the summit, nor will he ship any representatives.
Schallenberg mentioned he may “emotionally perceive” these strikes, whereas stressing that the OSCE will likely be “irreplaceable” within the interval after the Ukraine battle ends. “We want extra OSCE sooner or later and never much less,” he said.
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