Lavrov called Blinken and Borrell cowards – “They are afraid of any honest conversation based on arguments”

“Coward” he called the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrovthe US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken and the head of European diplomacy Joseph Borelbecause they did not stay in Skopje to participate in the ministerial conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which takes place yesterday and today in the capital of North Macedonia.

Messrs. Blinken and Borrell traveled to Skopje on Wednesday afternoon where they stayed for a few hours and then left (the former for Israel, the latter for Brussels) shortly before Sergey Lavrov arrived in Skopje. “My colleague Blinken avoided the conference, but I am here. Blinken is gone, Borrell is gone. Why did they do this? They probably wanted to emphasize their intention to isolate Russia, but I think they just acted cowardly. They feared any honest conversation based on argumentsSergey Lavrov said at a press conference today in Skopje.

The permanent representative of the US to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter, commenting on these reports of Sergey Lavrov, noted that Russia remains isolated in the OSCE and no one supports its military attack on Ukraine. “Nobody wants to hear the lies, misinformation and propaganda of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,” added Carpenter, as reported by APE-MPE.

The foreign ministers or their representatives of the 57 OSCE countries participating in this conference unanimously decided today that Malta will assume the chairmanship of the Organization for 2024. Initially, only Estonia had applied to assume the chairmanship of the OSCE for 2024, but Russia vetoed it because the Baltic country blames Moscow for the war in Ukraine. Finally, Malta was chosen to chair the Organization for next year.