U.S. ambassador says OSCE can bypass Russia's veto

U.S. Permanent Representative to the OSCE Michael Carpenter stated this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"So when you talk about them violating aspects of the OSCE's internal rules, those violations pale in comparison to what we see with in terms of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Nevertheless, it is significant. So what should the OSCE do in this context? Well, we have an organization that is built the way it is. It was built during a different time when the West expected to have a more cooperative relationship with Russia. At the current time, I am an advocate for using mechanisms that work around Russia's obstructionism, like the Support Program in Ukraine," he said.

Carpenter recalled that this field mission was created for the first time in the history of the OSCE without reaching a consensus, "as a result of this war, as a result of Russia's aggression and their complete disregard and trampling of all international norms during this conflict."

" So already we have 30 participating States that have supported this new field mission. We have been one of the most generous donors, and we'll continue to fund projects through this mission that support Ukraine. It's at the behest of the host government and with zero Russian influence and zero ability for Russia to veto what we're doing, which drives them crazy, by the way," said the U.S. permanent representative.

He also cited another example, where Russia said they would not support the holding of the annual OSCE Human Dimension Meeting. "Last year, the Polish Chair in Office just decided that we would hold it anyway as a Chair's conference, and it was the same exact meeting over the same time period with 1400 civil society activists who came to Warsaw. It was hugely successful. We achieved our aims without having to placate Russia's demands," Carpenter said.

In his opinion, "the more issues that we can just simply work around and decide amongst a consensus – a core majority of the OSCE participating States, the better, because we can't really allow Russia to hold the entire organization hostage simply because we have these rules of consensus."

Commenting on the question of whether it is possible to say that a "parallel OSCE" is currently operating without the destructive participation of the Russian Federation, the U.S. ambassador noted that "you could put it that way, or you could also look at it as reforming the OSCE and finding a way to do business in light of the current geopolitical realities".

Read the full text of the interview with Michael Carpenter here.