MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is in a deep crisis and is facing a real threat of self-destruction, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the opening of talks in Moscow with the organization’s current chairman, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu.

"I will not even dwell on examples of how the OSCE found itself in its current situation of deep crisis, approaching the real threat of self-destruction," Lavrov said.

"The reason is very simple: most Western countries have departed radically from the high principles established in the Helsinki Accords and subsequent OSCE summit declarations," the top diplomat added.