BASEL, December 4. /TASS/. The attempts to prove that NATO and the EU alone have the monopoly on truth and this is the sole way of achieving security and prosperity are disastrous, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting of the OSCE foreign ministers on Thursday.

“If that logic were to be followed, the OSCE should be closed down,” Lavrov said. “Russia disagrees with this," he said.

“We are for using the “Helsinki plus 40” process not just for reaffirming the 1975 consensus, but for translating it into reality,” Lavrov said. “For that it is necessary to focus efforts on eliminating divides in all three OSCE dimensions.”

“Basket one. The indivisibility of military and political security must be ensured in practice,” Lavrov said. “No one should be allowed to maintain one’s own security at the expense of others. This principle, proclaimed in solemn declarations, has remained on paper.

“Basket two. Fundamental steps must be taken to achieve the ‘integration of integrations’ - the creation of a common economic space from the Atlantic to the Pacific, which would encompass not just the members of the European Union, the Eurasian Economic Union, the European Association of Free Trade (EFTA - Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Iceland and Norway), but also all other OSCE member-states on the common platform of WTO rules and principles,” Lavrov believes.

“Basket three. It is essential to enforce compliance with the obligation to ensure the freedom of movement, protection of the rights of ethnic minorities and prevention of any intolerance,” Lavrov said.

To be effective OSCE must become full-fledged international organization

Lavrov said the OSCE should become a tool for identifying concerted responses to common challenges.

To be effective the OSCE should become a full-fledged international organization with clear rules encouraging collective efforts through forming a consensus,” Lavrov said. “The OSCE must be a tool of identifying concerted responses to challenges common to us all, including the blaze that has been gaining strength south of our region. The position of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa is among the aggravating threats.”

“The OSCE is already considering problems of antisemitism and islamophobia,” Lavrov said, adding that “christianophobia deserves no smaller attention.”