BRATISLAVA, December 5. /TASS/. Moscow believes there is no point in modernizing the Vienna Document on confidence and security building measures given that Western countries are carrying out their policy of aggressive containment against Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
"In a situation, when instead of dialogue we are facing aggressive containment of our country, we see no sense in a debate on modernizing the 2011 Vienna Document," Lavrov said, opening a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council in Slovakia’s capital of Bratislava.
Russia’s top diplomat emphasized that the OSCE should take more active measures on countering such threats as terrorism and drug trafficking. He also noted that the organization had carried out thorough work on a project for advancing energy cooperation and digital innovations.
"The OSCE potential is especially in demand for solving pressing humanitarian issues. I’ll recall that such a shameful phenomenon of non-citizens is still in place in Latvia and Estonia," Lavrov said. "In Ukraine, the Russian language, which is spoken by the majority of nationals, has faced gross discrimination, while persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church continues. Some countries flagrantly violate their commitments on ensuring the freedom of mass media and equal access to information."
The Vienna Document was adopted on November 30, 2011, during a plenary meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation in Vienna. It is aimed at reducing the risk of military conflicts in the OSCE zone. In line with the document, the 57 OSCE participating states regularly exchange information on their armed forces, military organization, manpower and major weapon and equipment systems. The countries also share information on their defense planning and budgets.