The head of the OSCE opposed Russiaʼs exclusion from the organization

Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Helga Maria Schmid spoke against the exclusion of Russia from the organization.

She said this in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt.

"I believe that from todayʼs point of view it makes sense for Russia to continue to remain a member of the OSCE," she said.

Shmid justified her position by the need to preserve "communication channels". At the same time, she added that "keeping diplomatic channels open does not mean negotiating."

In addition, Schmid noted that, unlike the Council of Europe, the OSCE does not have a membership suspension mechanism through which Russia could be excluded. "The OSCE was born out of the Cold War confrontation. It was founded by countries that had very different interests, but wanted to prevent escalation," explained the Secretary General.

• In April 2022, after the start of Russiaʼs full-scale aggression, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russiaʼs membership in the OSCE "poses a threat to security and cooperation in Europe." He called on the organization to exclude Russia from its membership.
• In November, the authorities of Poland, which will chair the OSCE in 2022, did not issue visas to the Russian delegation to participate in the 29th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member countries of the organization, explaining this by the desire to "isolate Russia as much as possible." However, even despite this, the meeting participants were unable to adopt a joint resolution.