"The statement speaks for itself. In the recent years the Organization has in many ways lost its original and basic goal of being a forum for equal political dialog and cooperation in the largest issues of European security", states the comment of the Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department.
The OSCE activities show two deviations being geographical and functional. The former consists in the Organiztion's main work, including its field activity, being directed towards the CIS states and the Balkans, whereas the numerous problems in the remaining OSCE countries, including, for example, the rights of national minorities in Latvia and Estonia, are left aside.
Infringed is the OSCE fundamental principle of comprehensive approach to security. Intensive development of the humanitarian direction detriments the military-political and economic directions, while the activities in the humanitarian sphere frequently boil down to monitoring the situation in terms of human rights and election processes. The respective assessments in many cases turn out to be politically loaded without taking into account the specific features of separate countries.
"In our viewpoint and in the opinion of our CIS partners, remedying these drawbacks and safeguarding the OSCE unique potential gained over the thirty years will require a serious reform of the Organization. It shall include, firstly, re-targeting of the Organization's agenda from separate regional problems to really large issues related to overall European security, such as counter-terrorism. Secondly, adjustment of the Organization's institutes and structures tothe current reality and challenges and change in the nature of its field activities", reads the document.
The CIS states will continue coordinating their activities in the OSCE at the working and political levels and pursue their future joint line in the Organization, including the upcoming ministers' meeting in Sofia in December, proceeding from the readiness and the political will of the OSCE partners to make the Organization adequate to the present conditions, to develop the three dimensions of security simultaneously and equally and to remove the practice of double standards, believes Russia's Foreign Ministry.
