WARSAW, December 2. /TASS/. Over the course of its chairmanship in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Poland has failed to overcome its internal hang-ups and rise above its grudges of the past, thus damaging the organization, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Liukashevich said on Friday.
"We are very disappointed with the style and methods of work of the Polish chairmanship. We regret that Warsaw has failed to do away with its internal hang-ups, to rise above the grudges of the past in the interests of strengthening the collective fundamentals of our organization’s work. The reputation of the chairman of the OSCE has been seriously damaged. And the current ministerial meeting was noted for its extreme confrontationality and aggressiveness of many member states, which runs counter to the very nature of our organization," he said at the closing session of the 29th Council of Foreign Ministers in Poland’s Lodz.
Addressing a press conference on European security on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that a huge number of problems had piled up within the OSCE, with "NATO’s claims for dominating on the global scale" being more and more distinct.
According to the Russian top diplomat, nothing has been more harmful to the OSCE than Poland's chairmanship in 2022. He stressed that Warsaw’s actions flagrantly violate the OSCE rules and procedures as well as the directives of its steering bodies.
Earlier, the Polish foreign ministry denied entry visas to the Russian delegation led by Sergey Lavrov. The Russian foreign ministry condemned this decision as unprecedented and provocative, which is incompatible with the status of the organization’s chairperson-in-office. Russia’s delegation to the meetings in Lodz is led by Permanent Representative Alexander Lukashevich.