“It is regrettable that due to the veto of Russia and Belarus today [otrdien] Estonia’s candidacy for the presidency of the OSCE in 2024 was not approved in Vienna,” Cahknas was quoted as saying in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to OSCE rules, the decision on the presiding country must be unanimous, so the support of all 57 member states of the organization is required.
Cahkna emphasized that Russia’s actions are hindering the work of the entire organization, because for several years Moscow has not allowed to approve the organization’s budget, organize official OSCE events, extend missions, and because of Russia, all OSCE missions in Ukraine, which has become a victim of Russian aggression, have been terminated.
“Now we have come to a situation where, because of Russia and Belarus, the OSCE has not approved its chairman only a month and a half before the new year, although Estonia has been the European Union’s joint candidate for this position since 2020,” said Cahkna.
“When Russia violates all the principles of the OSCE, launching a bloody war of aggression, it is unacceptable to give in to Moscow’s demands and extortion, including its wish that the next OSCE chairman should not be from a NATO member state.
At the moment, we need to comprehensively isolate Russia in the international arena, instead of looking for solutions pleasing to Moscow,” said the Estonian foreign minister.
Cahkna emphasized that Estonia still believes that the OSCE must firmly defend its core values and exclude concessions to aggressors.
“The OSCE emerged from the European Conference on Security and Cooperation, which always aimed to promote dialogue between the East and the West from the very beginning. Therefore, the OSCE has never been formed only by like-minded countries. Although the work of the OSCE has always been characterized by confrontations from the beginning, the organization has never been in such a serious crisis as now,” he added.
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2023-11-21 14:30:17
#Russia #Belarus #vetoed #Estonias #presidency #OSCE
