The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, has asked to participate in the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is held at the end of November in Skopje, North Macedonia. Skopje is chairing the OSCE. 

The request for participation of the Russian chief diplomat was confirmed on November 6 by the head of Macedonian diplomacy, Bujar Osmani, who said that he received a letter from the Foreign Minister of Russia, through which Lavrov submitted the request for participation in the meeting of the Ministerial Council of the OSCE -'s. 

"I received a letter a few days ago from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia in which he emphasized the request to ensure his presence in Skopje. There are some challenges around this request, because the airspace of North Macedonia and our neighbours is closed to Russian state flights, so some logistical efforts must be made here... Otherwise, as a rule, all member countries must participate in this Council of the OSCE, but this will depend on the decisions that will be taken in the coming days. I hope that we all manage to be in Skopje", said Osmani. 

Osmani said that the OSCE in its 50 years of existence is facing a deep crisis as from 2021 it has a blocked budget while it has not even managed to elect leaders in some key positions. In addition, due to the Russian blockade, there is still no lead state for 2024. 

"The aggression against Ukraine was caused by the organization itself [Russia, which is a member of the OSCE], so the level of trust between the participating countries is at a historically low level, and decisions made in the OSCE cannot be made by consensus - not only political decisions, but also for the basic functions of the organization, and for the first time we are facing the absence of the chairman for the next year", said the Foreign Minister of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani. 

76 delegations will participate in the Ministerial Council in Skopje that will be held on November 30 and December 1, 57 from the OSCE member states and other partner states of the organization. 

The Foreign Minister of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, said that he hopes that the ministers of the most powerful countries in the world - the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany - will come.