MOSCOW, September 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Over the 40 years of its existence, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) has been the most representative international organization, but it is not complete organizationally and it has no legally binding statute, Russian Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mikhail Margelov said on Thursday.
“Although over the past 48 years the world changed cardinally, the Helsinki Agreements preserved their influence among the most important European documents. The OSCE continues to be one of the most representative international organizations. It has 57 members, including representatives of North America and Central Asia,” Margelov said at an international seminar titled “Helsinki +40: Prospects for Strengthening OSCE”.
“The OSCE does not compete with NATO and even with the EU institutions in the military-political field,” he said.
“OSCE's tasks in the field of security differ from NATO’s approach,” Margelov said. “The OSCE should do for indivisible security without the Cold War rules. Today the worsening split within the West-East does not bring unity for carrying out the OSCE instructions,” he added.
The OSCE “should give up the practice of double standards and adhere to the principle of indivisibility of security. But for the present the dividing lines are deepening in Europe and very often the OSCE is protecting security of its members from each other”, Margelov said.