MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to hold talks on Tuesday with the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Lamberto Zannier, who is staying in Moscow from April 24 through to April 27 at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation.
Apart from the talks with Lavrov, Zannier will also have a meeting with top officials of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). In addition to it, he will attend the 6th Moscow International Security Conference at the invitation of the Defense Ministry and in a session of the Valdai international discussions club.
"Working trips to Moscow and to other key capital of the OSCE member-states is routine practice for the Secretaries General of the organization and they are most typically made annually," an official at the Foreign Ministry told TASS. "Zannier visited Russia the previous time in April 2016.
The Secretary General has the power to govern all the executive bodies of the OSCE - the Secretariat, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human (ODIHR), the Office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities, the Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media, and field missions.
Also, the Secretary General coordinates the drafting of the combined budget and off-budgetary projects. As the main administrator in the OSCE, he reports to the member-states and to the Chairman in Office (Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurtz in 2017), who exercises political leadership in the organization.
"In the course of the talks, Lavrov and Zannier will discuss the efforts of the OSCE to resolve the internal conflict in Ukraine," the ministry said on the eve of the visit. "Russia maintain contacts with the special envoy of the Chairman in Office in the Ukraine Contact Group, Martin Sajdik, and with coordinators of the four subgroups."
"We’re watching closely the activity of the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) and we’re going to discuss with Zannier the measures that might help make it more efficient within its current mandate," the ministry said. "It’s important to observe the principle of fairness and impartiality in its operations.".