OSCE to Become Meaningless Body if West Abolishes Consensus Rule — Lavrov

"The attack on the consensus rule - the key OSCE principle that guarantees the rights of all participating states - has been ongoing for years," the minister said

© Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. The OSCE will become a meaningless organization, if the West abolishes the consensus rule, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an article he contributed to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, timed to coincide with the OSCE ministerial council meeting in Vienna.

"The attack on the consensus rule - the key OSCE principle that guarantees the rights of all participating states - has been ongoing for years," the minister said. "The Finnish Chairmanship-in-Office has also ‘excelled’ in this unseemly endeavour. Those who undermine consensus should understand that without it, the OSCE will lose its reason for existence."

In September, Lavrov discussed with OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu the prospects for resolving the crisis facing the organization, "based on the consensus rule, which is fundamental for the OSCE." They then considered "the current state of affairs in the organization, in a deep crisis because of attempts by some countries to subordinate its work exclusively to the Ukrainian plot and the Russophobic agenda.".

OSCE ignores lawlessness of Kiev regime, Baltic states and Moldova — Lavrov

"The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the infamous ODIHR, overlooks its duties and pays no heed to lawless conduct of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime and the ruling circles of the Baltic states and Moldova, which adopt racist laws and subject local Russian population to ruthless discrimination," the minister said

MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) does not respond to the lawlessness of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime, and of the governments of the Baltic states and Moldova, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an article he contributed to Rossiyskaya Gazeta timed to coincide with the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Vienna.

He said that the situation with the "human dimension," or the so-called "third basket" of the OSCE, which the West used to interfere in the internal affairs of the USSR and modern Russia, is far from the best. "Urgent tasks such as promoting intercultural dialogue, combatting manifestations of neo-Nazism, Islamophobia, and Christianophobia, and protecting the rights of ethnic minorities and believers have been wiped out from the agenda," he said.

"The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the infamous ODIHR, overlooks its duties and pays no heed to lawless conduct of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime and the ruling circles of the Baltic states and Moldova, which adopt racist laws and subject local Russian population to ruthless discrimination."

Lavrov stressed that instead, the ODIHR is arbitrarily, with extra-budgetary funds not approved by consensus of the participating states churning out false reports about Russia's "violation of international humanitarian law" during the Ukrainian conflict.