By launching its war of aggression against Ukraine

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Russia has flouted not only specific OSCE commitments. Russia has also violated the core principles on which European security is built as enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act, the Paris Charter and underpinned in the UN Charter,” he said. ‘Betrayal of one of its members’ OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid said that “this year one participating State, despite efforts to the contrary, chose to pursue violence over dialogue and cooperation. This is not the failure of this organization, but the betrayal of one of its members.” She referred to the “dramatic immediate aftermath” of the Russian invasion of Ukraine for the members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission.

Indeed, the OSCE scrambled to evacuate its staff during the first days of the war, because the mission management was surprised by the scale of the Russian attack. “Thankfully we managed to get all of our international staff out safely. And while we could not evacuate our male local colleagues due to martial law, we helped many of our local staff to relocate within Luxembourg Email List the country,” Schmid said. She also mentioned the tragic killing of one local mission member in Ukraine and the continued illegal detention of three others, despite the OSCE’s “every effort to secure their freedom.” Given that both the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and the OSCE Project Coordinator office have closed – Russia blocked the renewal of their respective mandates – Schmid also underlined the importance of the new OSCE Support Program for Ukraine.



She said that it “marks a new and innovative way of working” and described it as a “clear message” to those who are sceptical of the OSCE’s ability to deliver “in the face of potential blockages.” Not a single decision adopted For the first time in the OSCE’s history, the Ministerial Council did not adopt any decisions. The Polish Chairmanship refrained from negotiating any substantive texts in the run-up to the meeting, given the grave tensions that would have made any in-depth discussions and the necessary consensus impossible. Yet, Poland had hoped to adopt a ministerial decision on the date and place of the next OSCE Ministerial Council meeting, to be held some time in December 2023 in North Macedonia.