Lavrov hints Belarus has obligations under OSCE

• 31.10.2011, 15:54

Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, has said today after a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart that Belarus should fulfill the country’s obligations under the OSCE.

According to him, the negotiations were focused on Russia-Belarus joint initiatives to be introduced for discussion at a meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council scheduled for December in Vilnius, AFN news agency reports.

“Russia, Belarus and a number of other CSTO and CIS states have joint initiatives that are being discussed,” Lavrov said after the meeting noting that the initiatives relate to such issues as adoption of the OSCE Charter and regulation of OSCE mechanisms.

“One of our initiatives is that all OSCE member states must fulfill their commitments assumed in the 1990s regarding freedom of travel in our common region. The obligations were accepted, but they are not being fulfilled so far,” Lavrov said.

It’s possible to suppose by a stretch that the Russian foreign minister meant not only one commitment, but all the commitments assumed by the OSCE member states, including Belarus, first of all those relating to observing civil rights and liberties.

Even speaking about freedom of travel, Lavrov threw a stone at Belarus, the country known for denying entry to and deporting Russian and Ukrainian politicians, public figures and journalists, let alone EU citizens, from the country.

Besides fulfilling the commitments, Lavtov and Martynau discussed the issues of “interaction in international organizations”, relations with NATO and the EU and adopted a programme of coordinated actions.