Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused NATO of trying to keep Russia out of Europe. NATO has the European Union under its control, Lavrov told the press in Moscow. The West missed its chance to avoid the Ukraine conflict, he added. Lavrov also made serious allegations against OSCE monitors in Ukraine.
According to Lavrov, NATO was “deliberately” expanded. In 1991 the military alliance had 16 members, now there are 30. There are also two other candidates, Sweden and Finland. The West has not responded to Russia’s proposals to forego NATO expansion and to agree on a special status for Ukraine, Lavrov said.
Russian justification
The Russian interpretation that NATO, with its eastward expansion, gave Russia virtually no other chance than to invade Ukraine has been circulating since the beginning of the war.
Historically, the accusation dates back to 1990, when West Germany sought Moscow’s approval for reunification. The then foreign minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, offered not to expand NATO to the east. It was contractually agreed not to station any foreign NATO troops in East Germany. And that was respected. In addition, in 1991 most of the heads of government of the NATO members and Secretary General Manfred Wörner were convinced that NATO expansion would not take place.
Putin criticizes that NATO has grown. It should be said that according to the UNO charter, every state can decide for itself whether to join an alliance. Russia also recognized that at the time.
“Grave” for OSCE “already dug”
Lavrov attacked the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and in particular its observers in eastern Ukraine as partisan. Before the war broke out, the OSCE observers stationed in the Donetsk region ignored the increasing attacks by the Ukrainian army on the Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and in some cases even helped them.
“Facts have been discovered that the OSCE took part in directing the fire on Donetsk and Luhansk,” Lavrov claimed. After the expulsion of the observers, corresponding documents were found.
Since 2014, the OSCE has attempted to separate the parties to the conflict in Donbas and to monitor the ceasefire. At the end of February, after the start of the Russian invasion, she had to end her mission and withdraw observers from the war zone.
Lavrov’s criticism went even further. The Russian chief diplomat complained that the OSCE was being dominated by the West and had thus lost its own importance as a mediator. Poland “has been digging a grave” for the organization all year, he said. “The spirit and letter of the OSCE Charter have been destroyed.”
The OSCE he mentioned is currently starting a two-day meeting of its foreign ministers in Lodz, Poland, without Lavrov. Poland has refused entry to him, who has been banned from entering the EU because of the Russian war of aggression.