MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. Any potential Russian withdrawal from the OSCE would hinder the resolution of security problems in the Euro-Atlantic area, and it is necessary to maintain the country’s presence [within the organization] and not cede the platform to its opponents, even while the prevailing anti-Russian hysteria is "nausea-inducing," the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s European Cooperation Department, Nikolay Kobrinets, told TASS in an interview.

"You may ask: ‘If everything is in such a sorry state in the OSCE, what’s the point of continuing to participate in it? Maybe we really should just slam the door and make our exit.’ This is an option. We could do so at any time. But such a decision would not contribute to the elimination of accumulated security problems or ease tensions in the Euro-Atlantic region," the diplomat said.

"My personal opinion (and I do not claim that it is the only correct one) is this: It would be more correct to endure the West’s anti-Russian tantrums in the OSCE, although they make one sick, to refute them in a dignified way, precisely as our diplomats and parliamentarians have been doing. Not to cede this platform to our opponents. They don’t like to hear the truth, but they must," Kobrinets added.

It would be naive to expect that, without Russia’s participation, the OSCE "with its current anti-Russian frenzy and atmosphere of crisis would cease to exist."

"But it is an indisputable fact that the capabilities of this unique format would be lost forever," he explained.

He pointed out that various kinds of "discussions and scuttlebutt" have been going around for a long time regarding Russia's potential withdrawal from the organization. Kobrinets stressed that some unfriendly OSCE member states "would very much like to see events develop precisely according to such a scenario."

"Our country’s pullout from the OSCE would be presented as a major diplomatic victory for them," the diplomat stated. Within Russian society, as well, there have been calls for leaving the organization, to a certain extent due to "reasonable disappointment" with its activities.

Kobrinets pointed out that the current crisis in the OSCE stemmed from "short-sighted confrontational policies by the US-led collective West." This platform has been used by the Western countries exclusively to promote the interests and agenda of NATO and the European Union. "The OSCE chairpersons-in-office actively play into their hands. Poland was doing so last year and North Macedonia is following suit this year. They are trying to confine the organization's activities to Russophobia and effect the total ‘Ukrainization’ of its agenda. As a result, the foundations for interaction among the participating states are being eroded," he concluded.