Ukrainian ambassador reveals how some OSCE members were persuaded to boycott Russian foreign minister

Yevhen Tsymbaliuk, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), believes his speech at the ministerial meeting in North Macedonia influenced the decision by some delegates to boycott Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Source: a European Pravda article, Not Just the OSCE: Ukraine's Three Diplomatic Victories Over Russia in a Week

Details: European Pravda editor Sergiy Sydorenko pointed out in the article that for the first time, ministers from about half of the OSCE member states boycotted the ministerial meeting, "and it happened purely because they did not want to be at the same table as Lavrov".

Some of them were likely persuaded by the Ukrainian ambassador, who made a speech during a ceremonial dinner on the eve of the conference.

"The core of my explanation was that the story of how the OSCE could unite even those who were not like-minded during the Cold War ceases to work during a hot war. In the current situation, dialogue with criminals should be limited, not supported," Tsymbaliuk explained.

The diplomat said he thought this explanation was "totally obvious", but it turned out that for many in Europe, it wasn’t.

"During the dinner, 15 state representatives came over to me asking for a copy of my speech so they could analyse these arguments. So the text had to be written out urgently so it could be sent to them, as I’d been speaking off the top of my head," he said.

The day before, European Pravda reported that the OSCE meeting in the North Macedonian capital, Skopje, had been ignored by 13 of the 31 NATO ministers due to Sergei Lavrov's attendance.

Read more: OSCE Meeting in North Macedonia Fails to Stand Up to Lavrov, Deepening Problems

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