News

1247th meeting of the the OSCE Permanent Council (November 14, 2019, Vienna). On its agenda – Geneva international discussions/conflict in Georgia, ongoing Russia‘s aggression against Ukraine, meeting with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mr P. Maurer, and the report by the OSCE Representative to the Latvian-Russian Joint Commission on Military Pensioners.

When discussing the conflict in Georgia, the OSCE Permanent Council had an exchange of views with the Co-Chairs of the Geneva International Discussions (a special format, convened in October 2008 to discuss the consequences of the Russia-Georgia war (August 2008) and co-chaired by the representatives of UN, OSCE and EU), Mr C. Sultanoğlu, Mr R. Michalka and Mr T. Klaar. Concerns over the deteriorating situation on the ground, in particular along the administrative boundary line, with the S. Ossetia/Tschinvali region of Georgia were raised. Calls for political will, trust and dialogue also widely expressed. In their statement, the EU and its Member States urged Russia to assume its responsibility as a party to this conflict and to undertake concrete measures to resolve it.

The OSCE Permanent Council also welcomed the completion of the withdrawal of forces and hardware in Petrivske (Ukraine) and expressed its cautious expectations it shall lead to further progress in resolving Russia-Ukraine conflict. The EU and its Member States expressed their grave concern with the reported sentencing by the court of Russia on November 12, 2019, of 6 Crimean Tatars for their alleged terrorist activities, what constitutes – in the opinion of the eu - yet another example of systematic persecution, harassment and intimidation of the representatives of the Crimean Tatar community and its self-governing body, the Mejlis.