OSCE Sec.-Gen. against Russia’s exclusion from organization

Russia should retain its status as a member of the OSCE, as European states will once again need channels of communication on the security architecture on the continent in the future, Secretary-General Helga Schmid said in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt on January 9, Report informs referring to TASS.

Unlike the Council of Europe, the OSCE doesn’t have a suspension mechanism that could be used to exclude the Russian Federation. Keeping diplomatic channels open does not mean unity of positions, Schmid noted.

The OSCE is the only organization in which everyone who is important for the European security architecture sits at the same table, the head of the organization stressed.

Schmid also said that the OSCE is ready to make its contribution to the process of monitoring compliance with the terms of the ceasefire in Ukraine if Moscow and Kyiv can agree on a truce.

Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for Russia’s exclusion from the OSCE membership.