Lukashenko favors greater OSCE involvement in defusing Ukrainian crisis

MINSK, June 16. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) must be more actively involved in the process of normalization of the situation in Ukraine.

"The Ukrainian crisis shows that we do not need additional arguments to agree on boosting the OSCE’s role in normalizing the situation," he said on Tuesday during a meeting with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier and Director of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Michael Georg Link.

"I don’t want to say that the OSCE doesn’t play a role in defusing the crisis in Ukraine, it is the only organization that plays a significant role in resolving the conflict and stopping the hostilities," Alexander Lukashenko said. "However, we would like to see greater OSCE involvement and its role in normalizing the situation in Ukraine."

As for the role of Belarus in resolving the situation, " this role is well known to you," Lukashenko said. "Moreover, you a motor in resolving the situation and involving Belarus in this process." The Belarusian president noted that the war in Ukraine "was almost in his country", adding that "we are wary of this and would not like the conflict to escalate."

For his part, the OSCE Secretary General noted that Europe’s security watchdog recognized the important role of Belarus in the peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. He pointed to the importance of his visit in the context of the possibility of a meeting with the Contact Group on Ukraine and the discussion of a number of issues related to the normalization of the situation. The OSCE head also noted that the organization was living through difficult times, adding that there was "much less freedom of action." He added, though, that, in his opinion, it was not a crisis of the organization, this was connected with the general situation in ensuring the security architecture.