Security
Ukraine, Baltic states to 'boycott' OSCE meeting over Lavrov's invitation
Bulgaria plans to open its airspace to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He has represented Russia abroad throughout its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
![Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hosts a meeting about Gaza with foreign ministers from members of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, amid the war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, in Moscow on November 21. [Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/ AFP]](/gc6/images/2023/11/29/45211-lavrov-370_237.webp)
By AFP |
KYIV/TALLINN -- Ukraine said November 28 it would boycott an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) foreign ministers' meeting in the North Macedonian capital Skopje this week.
North Macedonia, which currently holds the body's rotating chairmanship, invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the meeting. He said he plans to attend.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also said they would not take part in the annual ministerial conference of the pan-European security body.
The announcement came the day after Bulgaria said it would open its airspace to the Russian minister, making a diplomatic exemption to European skies being closed to Russia over its Ukraine invasion.
![Skopje, North Macedonia, is shown during a protest on April 23, 2015. University and high school students rallied against the government's educational reforms. The city is hosting the OSCE foreign ministers' annual meeting this week. [Robert Atanasovski/AFP]](/gc6/images/2023/11/29/45221-skopje-370_237.webp)
Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will "boycott" the OSCE meeting over the decision to allow Lavrov to attend, Kyiv told AFP.
Lavrov is under European sanctions and had asked North Macedonia and neighboring Bulgaria to open their airspace to enable him to fly into Skopje.
The top Russian diplomat said November 27 that he plans to travel to Skopje if he is let through.
"If it works out, we will be there," he said, according to Russian news agencies.
The annual ministerial conference in Skopje begins on November 30.
Denunciation by Ukraine and the Baltics
Kyiv has called for Moscow to be excluded from the organization.
"We must work together to save the OSCE from Russia," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said in a post on social media.
He said Russia should be removed from the OSCE as it "unleashed the largest armed aggression in Europe since the end of WWII."
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also said November 28 their top diplomats would not attend the meeting in protest over the invitation to Lavrov.
In a joint statement, the Baltic countries' foreign ministers said Lavrov's planned attendance "risks legitimizing aggressor Russia as a rightful member of our community of free nations," adding that they "decided not to attend" the meeting in the North Macedonian capital.
"Lavrov's attendance trivializes the atrocious crimes that Russia continues to commit," Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
"Lavrov's place is at a special tribunal, not the OSCE table," he added, explaining the joint move by the Baltic states to skip the meeting.
Shunning by the EU
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said he would attend the meeting in Skopje but would not meet Lavrov directly.
"Russia will present its point of view; we the Europeans will present ours," Borrell said.
"But I will not have a direct discussion with him."
Unlike North Macedonia, Poland -- the previous rotating chair and host -- barred Lavrov from the annual OSCE meeting last year.