STOCKHOLM: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will attend the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Stockholm next week, the organisation’s Swedish presidency said Friday. It will be the first time since 2017 that the chief diplomats of both Washington and Moscow will attend the annual meeting, Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde told a press briefing.
The United States and Russia are both members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which has been trying to boost its role following the 2014 invasion of the Crimea and a resurgence in East-West tensions.
Among other declarations, Sweden will submit to the OSCE a text on Ukraine that is likely to be blocked by Moscow as it will affirm that Crimea is part of Ukraine.
The meeting on December 2 and 3 is being held against the backdrop of tensions at the border between Ukraine and Russia, with the West worried about a Russian offensive.
“We must always have our eyes open, but there’s no sign that Russia won’t keep it commitments,” said Linde, who met Lavrov in Moscow last week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Russia is sending “very dangerous” signals as Western governments accuse Moscow of a troop build-up near his country’s borders. And Ukraine was ready to take on Russia if Moscow decides to move troops across the border, Zelensky said.
Also on the agenda of the OSCE meeting will be the migrants on the border between Belarus and the European Union. Around 50 ministers are expected to attend in all, including British foreign secretary Liz Truss and the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Belarus, Stockholm said.
Sweden holds the rotating presidency of the OSCE this year, and Poland will take over next year.
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