Ukraine, Baltic countries boycott O meeting The SEU, Due to Russia's Turnout

This would be the first time Mr. Lavrov would participate in an OSCE meeting, since the start of the large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Moscow's aggression became due to sweeping Western sanctions.

The OSCE meeting, a 57-member organisation, will be held from November 30th to December 1st in Skopje. Kiev was the first to announce it would not take its representative to Skopje.

Ukrainian delegation will not participate in O meeting The SEU at the level of foreign affairs ministers” wrote in a Facebook statement, Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ukraine Foreign Ministry.

Mr. Nikolenko said Russia had abused the rules of consensus of the organisation, had used “breaks and open threats”, as well as held in prison for 500 days, three Ukrainian OSCE representatives.

“Under such conditions, the presence of a Russian delegation, on a ministerial level for the first time since the start of the large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine, would only deepen the crisis Russia has introduced OSCE to”, he said.

The solidarity of the Baltic countries.

In a gesture of solidarity with Kiev, foreign ministers of three Baltic countries later issued a statement saying they would not participate in the meeting if Mr. Lavrov attended.

His participation “risks justifying the role of Russia, an aggressor country, within a community of free nations, not taking into account the cruel crimes Russia committed”, they said.

In the joint statement, the foreign ministers of the three Baltic countries accused Russia of undertaking blocking actions within the OSCE, such as the ban on the organisation's monitoring mission in Ukraine, as well as blocking Estonia's request to lead the organisation in 2024. In the past Russia has accused the West of miniming O The SB - Through NATO's Unprecedented “expansion” in Central and Eastern Europe. / VOA