Russia has no plans to change course in Ukraine at the moment. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov today during a security conference in which foreign ministers of various countries met. Lavrov indicated that Russia sees no reason to “review” its goals. Lavrov told the Western leaders in attendance: “We do not see any signs from Kiev or its leaders about their willingness to strive for a political settlement.”

The annual conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was held in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. That country joined NATO in 2020 and excluded Russian officials from the no-fly zone on this occasion. For the delegations of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Lavrov’s visit was reason enough to miss the meeting in protest.

The Russian Foreign Minister’s presence was strongly criticized by the host country because it was said to conflict with the OSCE’s core values, including human rights, freedom of the press and free elections. North Macedonia’s Foreign Minister and host Bujar Osmani admitted as much in his opening speech: “Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine goes against everything that this organization considers important.”

Lavrov seemed indifferent to the controversy surrounding his presence. In fact, he got into it head-on by harshly criticizing his Western counterparts. For example, he called both US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell “cowards” for avoiding direct talks with Russia. Both delegates had attended the meeting but had already left.

Sebas van Aert