Statement by the Foreign Ministers of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan
Showing solidarity, we
express our disagreement with the unprecedented decision of the OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office, which has made it impossible for the delegation of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs to take part in the 29th OSCE Ministerial Council meeting.
We note that such actions
violate the norms of the OSCE, the Rules of Procedure and decisions of its decision-making authorities, in particular, the decision of the 2002 OSCE Ministerial Council in Porto on the role of the Chairmanship-in-Office, which states that it
must keep its actions consistent with stances agreed upon by all member states and take into account the full scope of member states’ opinions.
We state that in infringing on the rights of the Russian delegation, the Polish Chairmanship-in-Office has failed to
fulfil its obligations to the OSCE, currently the most representative pan-European organisation for security and cooperation.
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We express our disagreement with the decision by the OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office not to send an invitation to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation to participate in the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting, in violation of the long-standing practice.
We urge the OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office to ensure
equal and inclusive representation of all OSCE member states without exception, and call on future chairmanships in OSCE institutions and structures to take a constructive approach to their function and ensure that all member states of the organisation observe their mandates and the practice of achieving the goals of dialogue and cooperation for the benefit of all OSCE member states.
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