Ukraine will not attend the OSCE meeting due to the presence of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will not attend the OSCE ministerial meeting due to the presence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko said.
The meeting will take place from November 30 to December 1 in Skopje, North Macedonia.
The Russian Federation is consistently destroying the OSCE by abusing the consensus rule. Using blackmail and open threats, the Russian Federation has systematically blocked consensus on key issues. The blocking of Estonia's candidacy for the OSCE chairmanship in 2024 was also arbitrary,
the statement said.
Nikolenko also recalled the three detained Ukrainian OSCE staff members who have been held captive by Russia for more than 500 days.
Russia has created an existential crisis in the OSCE and turned the organisation into a hostage to its whims and aggression,
the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson added.
The ministers of foreign affairs of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said they would also boycott the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting.
We deeply regret the decision enabling the personal participation of Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov at the 30th Session of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje. It will only provide Russia with another propaganda opportunity,
the ministers said in a joint statement.
Earlier, it became known that Bulgaria would "temporarily open its airspace" to Russia so that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov could fly to North Macedonia.
"Bulgaria has granted permission for the Special Aviation Unit "Russia" to fly through the airspace of the Republic of Bulgaria to transport a delegation to participate in an international forum," the statement said.
