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Lavrov to hold talks with OSCE secretary general in Moscow on March 11 — diplomat

According to the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, this situation will not change until Western countries stop using the Vienna platform to suit their own interests and violate OSCE principles, thus destroying this international structure

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Feridun Sinirlioglu in Moscow on March 11, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated at a briefing.

"On March 11, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold talks with OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu who will arrive in Moscow on a working visit," the diplomat said.

"As you know, high-level face-to-face engagements with the OSCE leadership have recently been reduced to brief exchanges on the sidelines of several ministerial events like the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting. Therefore, the planned discussion will be devoted not only to pressing issues related to the mandate and competencies of the secretary general but also to overall challenges of the OSCE, which cannot play any significant role in providing security to the region because it has become engulfed in a deep existential and institutional crisis," Zakharova specified.

According to the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, this situation will not change until Western countries stop using the Vienna platform to suit their own interests and violate OSCE principles, thus destroying this international structure.

"Russia has never abandoned mutually respectful cooperation for the benefit of all OSCE members, but the country has always spoken frankly about the problems within this organization and, in fact, in the region where it operates," Zakharova stressed. "We expect a productive and thorough exchange of views," the diplomat concluded.

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