OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Lajčák discusses OSCE agenda with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Moscow

MOSCOW, 19 February 2019 – On an official visit as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajčák today met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss various issues on the OSCE agenda.

Minister Lajčák briefed his Russian counterpart on the priorities of the 2019 Slovak OSCE Chairmanship, the workplans in all three dimensions (politico-military, economic and environmental, and human) of comprehensive security, as well as his activities in the first two months, including his visits to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

On the crisis in and around Ukraine, Minister Lajčák suggested concrete and practical measures he and his team identified to ease the humanitarian consequences of the crisis for the people most affected by it. The two Ministers also discussed the incident in the Azov Sea at the end of 2018, the upcoming Presidential elections in Ukraine and the nomination of short-term election observers from the Russian Federation.

On Moldova, the Ministers both welcomed the momentum achieved in the Transdniestrian Settlement Process; on Georgia Minister Lajčák stressed the importance of unhindered movement across the administrative boundary line; and on Nagorno-Karabakh, the current situation and possible prospects for progress were discussed.

Reiterating the importance of the Russian Federation as a partner in multilateral fora, Minister Lajčák urged his counterpart to engage constructively in the work of the OSCE, as well as in the ongoing negotiations on the Scales of Contribution.