VIENNA (dpa-AFX) – As this year’s chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Malta is committed to greater engagement in Ukraine despite Russian resistance. Maltese Foreign Minister Ian Borg said this on Thursday in Vienna to representatives of the 57 OSCE states, including Russia.
After the start of the Russian war of aggression, Moscow blocked the extension of OSCE projects in Ukraine in 2022. However, other member states, including Germany, ensured that the OSCE can continue to work in Ukraine in a limited form. The organization is involved in the country with, among other things, demining, the fight against human trafficking and strengthening the judiciary.
Borg announced that he would visit Kiev next week as OSCE chairman. There, the minister wants to discuss, among other things, further cooperation opportunities and express his support for Ukraine. Russia must withdraw “completely, unconditionally and immediately” from Ukraine, demanded the chief diplomat in Vienna.
In the OSCE, however, Borg is dependent on Moscow’s cooperation. Russia recently blocked another multi-year contract for OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid and the adoption of the OSCE budget. By the beginning of September, when Schmid’s term of office expires, Borg wants to find a solution to both problems in order to ensure the OSCE’s survival. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” Borg said.
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