VIENNA, December 5. . Russia and Belarus have called for overcoming the rift in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) by returning to a comprehensive “Structured Dialogue”. The two countries' joint opening statement was announced at the OSCE Council of Foreign Ministers in Vienna.
The “structured dialogue” on security challenges (SD), since its launch at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg (December 2016), has long remained one of the main areas of activity in the political-military dimension of the OSCE. Meetings within the Directorate are held in an informal working group (IWG) format under the auspices of the OSCE decision-making bodies – the Permanent Council and the Security Cooperation Forum. After the start of the SVO in Ukraine, the Finnish chairmanship of the SD suspended discussions in the form “until the emergence of preconditions for starting work”.
“We call on the chair of the Informal Working Group on Structured Dialogue (Norway) to refrain from discriminatory practices contrary to the OSCE Rules of Procedure and to return the platform to a professional, mutually respectful and non-political dialogue based on inclusive principles aimed at overcoming divisions within the OSCE,” the document notes.
“We consider it wrong to redirect the work of the framework to small groups. According to the OSCE Rules of Procedure, any informal working groups are open bodies, all their activities must be open to all participating states without exception. Further fragmentation of the structured dialogue will deepen existing conflicts and destroy the remnants of collective work in the OSCE,” the open statement said.
Currently, work in the SD is carried out in the form of small groups, but Russia does not recognize them because they contradict the OSCE's operating principles, which imply inclusive participation of all 57 member states of the organization.
