Russian FM Lavrov wants to 'bring order' to the OSCE

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticized the state of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and called for reforms following a meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on Friday.

As OSCE chairman, Cassis was in Moscow to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine. At a press conference after the meeting, Lavrov said: "We need to bring order to the organization, especially with regard to election monitoring."

Moscow intends to launch some initiatives to facilitate this, he said.

Together with Cassis, OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioğlu was also in the Russian capital. It was the first visit by OSCE representatives to Moscow in several years.

Russia is still one of the 57 OSCE member states, but work in the institution has been practically blocked since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

The OSCE staff deployed as observers in the Ukrainian Donbass before the war began have had to leave the region.

Cassis, who had stopped off in Kyiv before his trip to Moscow, wrote on X that the meeting was about the need for dialogue to end the war in Ukraine and "how the OSCE can serve as a platform to facilitate this dialogue."