GENEVA, February 4. /TASS/. The current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, will visit Moscow as a representative of an international organization that is in a deep systemic crisis, Russian ambassador to Switzerland Sergey Garmonin told TASS.
"Mr. Cassis is traveling to Russia in his capacity as the current chair of the OSCE, an international organization of which our country is also a member state. It is in this capacity that the Russian side views Ignazio Cassis - as the official representative of an international organization that is in a deep systemic crisis," the diplomat explained. Given this, Garmonin says, it’s no surprise that today there is a "loss of interest in high-level work at this Vienna platform."
The ambassador noted that the agenda for the talks includes "finding ways to overcome the current sad state" of the OSCE. He recalled that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov plans to "discuss in detail the current chair's options for restoring normal OSCE activities in all three directions," that is, in the military-political, economic-environmental, and human dimensions of security. Garmonin added that Cassis will be accompanied by OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu, which "clearly demonstrates the focus of the issues that will be discussed by the parties."