OSCE/ODIHR Director to meet with Russian Foreign Minister in Moscow

WARSAW, 9 September 2009 - Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, the Director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), travelled to Moscow today to meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other high Russian officials.

Topics for discussion were to include enhancing co-operation in the fields of human rights and democratization, including election observation, and ongoing discussions about European security architecture.

During the two-day visit, Lenarcic will also meet Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov, Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mikhail Margelov, Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin and Ella Pamfilova, Head of the Presidential Council for Assisting the Development of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights.

Lenarcic will also meet representatives of NGOs and take part in the opening of an OSCE/ODIHR training course for election observers.

The trip to Moscow is the second for Lenarcic as ODIHR Director, and also the second time he is meeting with Minister Lavrov, following discussions at the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Helsinki in December 2008.