Current:Home > InvestTop diplomats arrive in North Macedonia for security meeting as some boycott Russia’s participation -Secure Growth Academy
Top diplomats arrive in North Macedonia for security meeting as some boycott Russia’s participation
View
Date:2025-04-15 07:37:09
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Top diplomats from more than 50 countries arrived in North Macedonia on Wednesday for a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, while others boycotted the expected presence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had said they would not attend the talks due to Lavrov’s participation and Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a brief stop in North Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, for the meeting but left for Israel hours later. He did not encounter Lavrov, who was due in Skopje late Wednesday.
Blinken accused Russia of “flagrant violations of every single core principle” of Cold War efforts to ease East-West tensions that led to the creation of the OSCE, and “relentless efforts to obstruct the OSCE’s work.”
Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels earlier Wednesday, Blinken said that the other OSCE member nations “are showing determination to make sure the organization continues to fulfil its purpose to advance European security.”
North Macedonia, a NATO member who holds the OSCE’s rotating chairmanship until Dec. 31, briefly suspended its ban on flights from Russia for Lavrov to fly in.
Russia’s top diplomat is making a rare visit to a NATO member country during the war that started with his country’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Lavrov also has visited NATO ally Turkey, which has no ban on Russian flights. In September, he was in New York to attend the U.N. gathering of world leaders.
In remarks with Blinken, North Macedonia’s foreign minister, Bujar Osmani, said his country’s chairmanship had sought to turn the OSCE into “a platform for political and legal accountability of (Russia) for its atrocities in Ukraine.”
The OSCE meeting started with a working dinner on Wednesday. Formal talks over the next two days will discuss the future of the organization and the challenges it faces.
The participating ministers are expected to decide whether Malta will be elected chair for next year. Other decisions include the OSCE budget and filling key positions.
In a joint statement Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said Lavrov’s presence at the meetings “will only provide Russia with yet another propaganda opportunity.” Separately, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry claimed that Russia “systematically blocked the consensus on key issues,” citing its opposition to Estonia’s candidacy for chair of the organization in 2024.
Security will be high in Skopje. Police sealed off a sports venue where the talks are talking place. The government declared Thursday a public sector and school holiday to reduce traffic.
veryGood! (5463)
Related
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- Oklahoma radio station now playing Beyoncé's new country song after outcry
- US Justice Department sues over Tennessee law targeting HIV-positive people convicted of sex work
- Los Angeles firefighters injured in explosion of pressurized cylinders aboard truck
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Zendaya’s Futuristic Dune: Part Two Premiere Look Has a NSFW Surprise
- Biden protects Palestinian immigrants in the U.S. from deportation, citing Israel-Hamas war
- Special counsel urges Supreme Court to deny Trump's bid to halt decision rejecting immunity claim in 2020 election case
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- John Calipari's middling Kentucky team may be college basketball's most interesting story
Ranking
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- New Hampshire Senate rejects enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution
- FBI informant charged with lying about Joe and Hunter Biden’s ties to Ukrainian energy company
- More kids are dying of drug overdoses. Could pediatricians do more to help?
- Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
- Will it take a high-profile athlete being shot and killed to make us care? | Opinion
- Utah school board seeks resignation of member who questioned athlete’s gender
- Jennifer Lopez says new album sums up her feelings, could be her last: 'True love does exist'
Recommendation
'Malcolm in the Middle’ to return with new episodes featuring Frankie Muniz
Prison deaths report finds widespread missteps, failures in latest sign of crisis in federal prisons
'Blue Bloods' returns for a final season: Cast, premiere date, where to watch and stream
Youth baseball program takes in $300K after its bronze statue of Jackie Robinson is stolen
Friday the 13th luck? 13 past Mega Millions jackpot wins in December. See top 10 lottery prizes
Kansas City shooting survivor says daughter saw Chiefs parade gunman firing and spinning in a circle
Teen Moms Kailyn Lowry Reveals Meaning Behind her Twins' Names
Vanessa Hudgens spills on working out, winding down and waking up (including this must-have)