Poland banning Lavrov from regional security talks "provocative": MFA

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Nov 2022 15:57

Moscow called the move "unprecedented and provocative".

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), 2019.

Russia criticized Poland's refusal to allow Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to attend a meeting next month for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, calling the move "unprecedented and provocative".

"The decision from Poland, which is the acting chairman of the OSCE, to refuse the participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov in the OSCE's ministerial meeting in Lodz on December 1-2 is unprecedented and provocative," the foreign ministry said, addressing the world's largest security body event.

"Not only did Warsaw discredit itself, but it also caused irreparable damage to the credibility of the organization as a whole," the ministry said.

Warsaw said it would not let Lavrov, under European sanctions, in the country for the meeting: "Delegations should be adjusted to the current EU regulations and not include persons that are sanctioned by the European Union," said the Polish OSCE chairmanship in a statement.

"With such destructive decisions, the Poles... are pushing the OSCE into the abyss," Moscow answered, arguing that the move would be "depriving (the OSCE) of the last chance to show its relevance in strengthening security and establishing cooperation, for which it was created".

The ministry accused the security body of turning into "a platform for political show and anti-Russian exercises".

"We are convinced that all sensible politicians share the position of the Russian side regarding the inadmissibility of such actions," it said.

The Russian delegation to the event will rather be led by the permanent representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich.