“It’s been 4 years since the launch of military operations in eastern Ukraine by Russia, but prospects for a political solution remain vague. The Kremlin-backed separatists are consistently destabilising the political and security situation in eastern Ukraine. This is intolerable and must change. The OSCE participating states have to find new solutions to support the implementation of the Minsk Agreements,” said Lithuania’s Foreign Minister.
In a discussion on the human rights situation in Crimea that was organised at the initiative of Ukraine, Linkevičius drew attention to systematic human rights abuses by Russia on the illegally annexed peninsula and called on the OSCE to strengthen its response to the challenges of protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The OSCE Ministerial Council on 7-8 December in Vienna brought together the Foreign Ministers form the OSCE participating states to discuss the main challenges to European security, such as conflicts in the OSCE area, the threats to human rights and freedoms, the rise of extremism and radicalisation, etc.
The annual Ministerial Council is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE. It provides the Foreign Ministers a platform to review and assess the organization’s activities, and to discuss security issues in the OSCE area, as well as to outline guidelines for further action.
The OSCE is the world’s largest regional security organization with 57 participating states from Europe, Central Asia and North America. Austria is entrusted with the Chairmanship of the OSCE for the year 2017, and Italy is to chair the OSCE in 2018.
