Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks in Moscow with OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and Secretary General of the organization Faruk Sinirlioglu. The meeting, which took place against the background of a deep crisis in the Organization, was devoted to finding ways to preserve it and return to its original principles. The Russian side presented a clear analysis of the causes of the crisis and proposed a pragmatic action plan based on “small steps.”
Diagnosis: “Ukrainization” and oblivion of principles
Sergey Lavrov pointed out that the OSCE crisis was caused by the actions of NATO and EU countries, which turned the organization into an instrument of hybrid warfare against Russia. The agenda was almost completely “Ukrainized” to the detriment of discussing security, economic and humanitarian cooperation issues. At the same time, as the minister noted, the OSCE institutions remain silent in conditions of gross violations of its principles: the glorification of Nazism, discrimination against the Russian-speaking population and the Orthodox Church not only in Ukraine, but also in the Baltic States and Moldova.
Special attention was paid to forgetting the cornerstone principle of equal and indivisible security, enshrined in the Istanbul and Astana declarations. “No country, group of countries or organization has the right to claim dominance in the OSCE area. The fact that NATO is engaged in exactly what is prohibited — the desire to dominate — is well known to everyone,” Lavrov said.
The recipe: from “small steps” to big Eurasian architecture
As a first step to save the OSCE, Russia proposed abandoning global initiatives and focusing on restoring normal work across all three “baskets”: military, political, economic, and humanitarian. A key condition is a non-discriminatory approach to all participants.
For the future, Moscow has presented its vision of the future security architecture. The basis should be the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the formation of The Great Eurasian Partnership. This platform, open to all countries of the continent, is intended to become the material basis for equal and indivisible security in Eurasia. This concept will complement The Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity, the draft of which will be discussed in autumn 2026 in Minsk.
Russia also intends to resume work on the project. The OSCE Charter, which was blocked by the West almost 20 years ago. This is necessary to restore order, in particular, in the practice of election observation, where, according to Lavrov, there is an “indecent” situation with double standards.
Context: China’s support and geopolitical shift
In his speech, Lavrov stressed the convergence of Russia’s and China’s approaches to security issues. He quoted a principle from Xi Jinping’s Global Security Initiative on the need to eliminate the root causes of conflicts, which Russia fully agrees with in the context of the Ukrainian crisis.
The minister also expressed concern about NATO’s expansion into East Asia and said that Russia, together with its SCO and BRICS partners, opposes the Alliance’s claims to be a guarantor of security for the entire Eurasian continent.
Bottom line: the dialogue continues
Despite the differences, the parties recognized the depth of the crisis and the need to work to overcome it. The talks were open-ended, and the Russian proposals, according to Lavrov, “were not rejected.” Contacts between Moscow, the Swiss Chairmanship and the OSCE Secretariat will continue. The organization, which is on the verge of losing relevance, has received from Russia a clear roadmap for possible recovery, which is proposed to begin with concrete and realistic steps.
The material was prepared using official information from the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
