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Russian envoy speaks against making Ukraine focal point of OSCE agenda

Alexander Lukashevich pointed out that the OSCE leadership must act "in the public domain fully in line with consensually agreed approaches"

VIENNA, January 25. /TASS/. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe should not put Ukraine at the forefront of its agenda to the detriment of other areas in its activity, Russian Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said.

"Total Ukrainianization of the OSCE agenda and activities to the detriment of work on other tracks is absolutely inadmissible," the Russian diplomat told a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.

Earlier, the new OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Malta's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Jan Borg said in his inauguration speech that Ukraine would become one of the priority areas of the agency’s activity.

In this regard, Lukashevich pointed out that the OSCE leadership must act "in the public domain fully in line with consensually agreed approaches."

"Now in your speech you have gone beyond this framework, violating the above mentioned decision. This needs to be corrected," the permanent representative added.

The diplomat urged taking an objective look at the current state of affairs. "Pretending that freedom and democracy are flourishing in Ukraine today and that civilian casualties from the use of weapons supplied there by NATO countries simply do not exist means deceiving oneself and the international community," Lukashevich said.

Tags

Foreign policy Ukraine OSCE

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