Several countries' delegations make demarche before Lavrov's speech at OSCE
During Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's speech at an OSCE meeting, a number of delegations exited the auditorium in a demarche.
It was previously reported that Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, left the OSCE plenary hall prior to Lavrov's remarks.
In the video of his demarche, several more OSCE representatives departed the hall.
Subsequently, Heorhii Tykhyi, the spokesman of Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated to European Pravda that representatives from Georgia, Czechia, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia left prior to Lavrov’s address.
According to him, Czechia, Poland, Latvia, and Georgia made a demarche at the level of foreign ministers, Romania and Estonia – at the level of lower-ranking diplomats, while Lithuania did not attend the OSCE conference at all.
📍OSCE Ministerial Council in Malta
– Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) December 5, 2024
Minister @sikorskiradek left the room after the start of the speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. pic.twitter.com/WyxjPJQM2I
Latvia’s Foreign Minister @Braze_Baiba left the room as Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov began speaking at the @OSCE Ministerial Council in Malta. pic.twitter.com/i4Bdcf0KE4
– Latvian MFA 🇱🇻 | #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 (@Latvian_MFA) December 5, 2024
Sybiha also referred to Lavrov as a war criminal at the end of his OSCE statement, according to reports.
The foreign ministers of Poland and Czechia, Radosław Sikorski and Jan Lipavský, had previously stated that they would not listen to Lavrov's remarks at an OSCE Council meeting.
Last year, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry was allowed to attend the OSCE ministerial meeting in North Macedonia, which is not yet a member of the EU.