MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. Russia’s permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Alexander Lukashevich, believes it is inappropriate to talk about a split in the organization.
"This is not so much a split as a wide range of opinions and priorities among its member-countries," he said on Tuesday, commenting on the results of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg. "The value of this organization is that, if solutions are developed, they are consensual."
The diplomat noted that each of the 57 OSCE member-countries comes to the council with its priorities, and finding a consensus has always been an uneasy task. "The current stage is in no way different in this regard," he went on to say. "The only difference is attempts to whip up anti-Russian rhetoric, especially in view of the situation in Syria."
According to Lukashevich, even in light of this, the participants in the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council did achieve success in some issues. "They were able to make some large-scale and important decisions in the political and military sphere, with an emphasis on the war on terror, security measures in cyberspace and passenger data exchange with a view to tracking terrorists," he said.
OSCE Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier, stated on numerous occasions in the past several months that there had been a split in the organization over developments in Ukraine.