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North Macedonia decides to allow Lavrov’s flight to attend OSCE ministerial meeting

The OSCE ministerial meeting will be held in Skopje from November 30 through December 1

BELGRADE, November 24. /TASS/. North Macedonia has decided to allow Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s plane to land in Skopje, which will enable Lavrov to take part in an international event.

According to a government statement, the window will apply from November 29 to December 1, when North Macedonia hosts a meeting of foreign ministers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Skopje. The government adopted a corresponding addendum to the resolution that imposed a flight ban on Russian aircraft, saying that this step complies with the European Union’s regulations and the sanctions, which make reservations for international conferences, such as the one to be held in Skopje.

The OSCE ministerial meeting will be held in Skopje from November 30 through December 1. The OSCE foreign ministers are expected to choose the chairmanship. North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said on November 14 that the issue of Lavrov’s presence at the meeting was not yet settled. He also recalled that the top Russian diplomat is under the EU’s sanctions.

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said earlier that Moscow was getting prepared for the meeting and insisted that the ministerial meeting could be successful only if the equality of all delegations was granted.

In November 2022, Poland, the then OSCE chair-in-office, denied the Russian delegation led by Lavrov the possibility to attend the OSCE ministerial meeting in Lodz on December 1 and 2, 2022. The Russian foreign ministry slammed Warsaw’s actions as unprecedented, provocative and incompliant with Poland’s status as the chair. The Russian delegation was led by Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich.