MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Russia will continue to take part in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for a while, Vladislav Maslennikov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department of European affairs, told TASS in an interview.
"Those Western players who are seeking to isolate our country globally are literally dreaming that Russia would cut its participation in the OSCE," the senior diplomat said. "We will not be provoked into such actions. The other day, our Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that it is not because we cherish any hopes or illusions that we continue to take part in this organization," he explained.
Maslennikov described the OSCE as a "component of the Euro-Atlantic security concept that has discredited itself." "At the same time, the voices of sensible countries, whose stance we would like to support at the Vienna venue and work together toward common interests, can be heard at the OSCE anyway," he noted. "Moreover, those countries that avoid contacting with us at other venues listen to our position spoken into the Vienna microphone," he added.
However, "repairing the facade only" at the OSCE would not be enough, Maslennikov warned as he called on Russia’s Western colleagues to resume compliance with the fundamental principles of the organization for it to survive.