Baltic FMs to boycott OSCE meeting Due to Lavrov

The foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have decided not to attend the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Skopje, the capital of Northern Macedonia, on November 30, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has been invited to attend. 

“We deeply regret the decision enabling the personal participation of Lavrov at the 30th Session of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje. It will only provide Russia with another propaganda opportunity,” reads the statement by the three Baltic ministers, according to LRT.

“S. Lavrov’s attendance at the OSCE Ministerial Council also risks legitimising aggressor Russia as a rightful member of our community of free nations, trivialising the atrocious crimes Russia has been committing, and putting up with Russia’s blatant violation and contempt of the OSCE fundamental principles and commitments,” they added. “We, the Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, will not be part of this and will not share responsibility for consequences it will create.”

The ministers stressed that in the last two years since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, “we have also seen nothing but Russia’s obstructive behaviour within the OSCE itself – first, by blocking any OSCE presence and activities in Ukraine, then by blocking Estonia’s 2024 chairmanship on completely fabricated reasons and now by blocking constructive solutions for keeping the organisation alive and functional”.

North Macedonia has decided to temporarily suspend Western sanctions on Kremlin regime officials, allowing Lavrov to fly into the NATO member state. He will also have to cross the airspace of another NATO member, Bulgaria or Greece, during his flight.

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry announced on November 27 that it had given permission for Lavrov’s plane to cross its airspace. However, the authorisation “does not apply to members of his delegation who are also sanctioned under EU law and who are named in documents on the Bulgarian side”.