On the scale of probabilities, the risk of a war on European territory is now at its highest level “for 30 years”, estimates Poland, at the end of the meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Thursday.
Held in Vienna, this meeting of the 57 member countries marked the third chapter of the diplomatic ballet begun this week between Russia, the United States, NATO and European countries in the hope of defusing tensions in Ukraine.
And the prospect of an armed conflict now makes it “imperative to find, through diplomatic means, a way to stem the escalation and begin to rebuild trust, transparency and cooperation”, added for her part Helga Schmid. , secretary general of the organization, a multilateral platform for East-West discussions stemming from the Cold War, but also one of the rare forums of which the United States and Russia are both members.
“For several weeks, we have been faced with the prospect of a major military escalation in Eastern Europe, summed up the opening of the meeting by Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, who took over the presidency of the body. internationally at the start of the year. “It seems that the risk of war in the OSCE area has never been so intense in the past 30 years. This is a major challenge for the Organization whose aim is precisely to banish war from Europe”.
The meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council ended Thursday on the same note as previous meetings in Geneva on Monday between the US and Russian Deputy Foreign Ministers, Wendy Sherman and Sergey Ryabkov, then in Brussels on Wednesday, between the Russia and NATO, each side sticking to its positions while becoming aware of its deep “differences” on the issue of security in Europe.
“It all revolved around concerns [des Occidentaux] and the so-called aggressive behavior of Russia”, lamented the Russian representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukachevitch, at the end of the meeting. “It’s a total disappointment.”
After assuring at the beginning of the week that it had no plan to invade Ukraine, Russia indicated on Thursday that it no longer felt the need to continue discussions with the West because of the dialogue of the deaf which marked the meetings of the week on the Ukrainian question.
“As long as we do not shed light on whether there is […] flexibility on the other side on important subjects, there is no reason to come to the table [des négociations] in the coming days, to meet again and start the same discussions again,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with the Russian channel RTVi.
“Key Claims”
Tension on the Russian-Ukrainian border has escalated in recent weeks after Moscow sent more than 100,000 troops to this hot corner of Eastern Europe. In 2014, Moscow invaded part of Ukrainian territory in addition to supporting since then the pro-Russian separatists in the east of this former Soviet republic which seeks its future by looking more towards the west.
Through these maneuvers, Russia is seeking to combat these pro-European tendencies and repel NATO forces from this region over which it seeks to re-establish its influence. Moscow is also calling for the signing of treaties banning any future enlargement of NATO in Eastern Europe, the non-deployment of offensive weapons near Russia and the drastic reduction of Western cooperation and military operations. in this region.
Described as “key demands” by the Kremlin, these demands were dismissed by the United States and the Alliance this week.
Thursday, the head of European diplomacy, the Spaniard Josep Borrell, also indicated that there was no question for Brussels to negotiate “under pressure”.
“We must resolutely reject blackmail and ensure that attacks and threats never bear fruit,” added the American ambassador to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter.
With Agence France-Presse