Lavrov says at OSCE that West is preparing Moldova to attack Russia

He shared the information on Espreso TV.

"At the OSCE meeting, Lavrov said that there is a Nazi regime in Kyiv, that we ban the Russian language, destroy Russian-language books, and even ban the use of Russian in Ukraine, but this is not the main point. The main point was that Lavrov said that the EU had turned into an aggressive bloc, the same as NATO. He said that it was Georgia that attacked Russia in 2008, that it was Ukraine that attacked Russia. And now, what is really disturbing, Lavrov said that the evil West is preparing Moldova to attack Russia," Poturayev said.

The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy also added that Russia's next steps to destabilize the situation are already clear.

"It is clear that Ukraine must help Moldova maintain stability and defend itself against possible destabilizing steps by Russia. Of course, Lavrov belongs in The Hague, not in the OSCE," Poturayev emphasized.

Background

From November 29 to December 1, the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting is taking place in Skopje. Bulgaria decided to temporarily open its airspace to the plane of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on his way to Skopje. 

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry emphasized that such permission falls under the exceptions to the EU sanctions regime and is temporary. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explicitly stated that this permit does not apply to members of the delegation who are sanctioned persons under current EU legislation.

On November 28, Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reported that the Ukrainian delegation would not participate in the OSCE ministerial meeting at the level of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Dmytro Kuleba will boycott the meeting because of the presence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. 

On the same day, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania followed Kuleba in refusing to participate in the OSCE summit. On November 29, Poland made a similar decision.

At the same time, a representative of the US Department of State said that Secretary Blinken would attend the OSCE meeting, but that a personal meeting with Lavrov was not planned.

Later, the media reported that the Bulgarian side refused to allow Lavrov's plane to enter its airspace because of the presence of a representative of the Russian diplomatic mission, Maria Zakharova, who is under EU sanctions. Lavrov's plane flew over Turkey and Greece on its way to North Macedonia. In the end, the minister's flight was about 4,000 kilometers long and took over 5 hours to complete. 

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell missed the OSCE ministerial meeting attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.