Russia chose to launch war against Ukraine despite all OSCE’s efforts to the contrary – Schmid

The relevant statement was made by OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid in an interview with Ukrinform.

“We are always looking for ways to improve our work, but I said it before and want to be clear that this war was not caused by the failure of OSCE’s tools for conflict prevention or any other international mechanism,” Schmid noted.

According to Schmid, as tensions rose, she repeatedly raised her deep concerns about the military build-up at Ukraine’s borders in the OSCE Permanent Council.

“On 14 February, I provided formal early warning to OSCE Ambassadors noting the rising prospects of escalation and violence in the area. This was only the third time in history that this instrument was used,” Schmid explained.

At the request of the Ukrainian authorities, OSCE’s personnel remained in the country, both from the Project Co-ordinator’s team and the Special Monitoring Mission, which was still in place at the time with 40 countries contributing.

“However it was Russia that made the choice to launch a war of aggression against Ukraine, despite all our efforts to the contrary. As OSCE Chairman-in-Office Rau has made clear, no tools or formats can be effective when ‘one State is determined to destroy, not to build’,” Schmid emphasized.

In her words, this war is “against all that we stand for – and all that we have worked for since we first came together during the Cold War – not as allies, but as States that didn’t see eye-to-eye, but were interested in finding ways to manage disagreement and build trust”.

Now, with Russia waging a war against Ukraine, reaching consensus is more challenging than ever for OSCE, Schmid added. In her words, it is obvious that “this has a real impact on the way our Organization operates on many different levels”.

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