MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. The importance of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as a platform for political dialogue will only grow due to "frozen" dialogue between Russia, EU and NATO, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary on the results of the year on Tuesday.
"The outgoing year proved that OSCE plays an important role in European affairs both in the framework of settling the crisis in Ukraine and on issues of consolidating efforts in the fight against terrorism and continuing political dialogue on the architecture of European security," the Foreign Ministry said. "In the circumstances of persisting ‘suspension’ of relations between Russia and EU, and Russia and NATO the importance of OSCE as a platform of political dialogue is growing," the ministry added.
However, "several negative tendencies grew stronger in the work of the Organization, first of all those connected with non-consensus activities of OSCE executive structures, especially the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media," the Foreign Ministry continued. Russia "was forces to counter hostile rhetoric and promotion of approaches that go against our interests in OSCE," the ministry noted.
"In the framework of the Helsinki +40 Process, we pursued a policy on supporting strategic dialogue in OSCE on ways to overcome the crisis of European security," the Foreign Ministry added.