MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. Poland has proved an incompetent host country of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) forums, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in connection with Warsaw's cancellation of visas for representatives of Russian civil society.
According to the diplomat, at least five experts who planned to participate in the Warsaw Conference on the Human Dimension on October 6-17 under the auspices of the OSCE Chairmanship-in-office "had their visas cancelled."
"Poland has definitively demonstrated its absolute incompetence as host country of the OSCE forums. Official Warsaw is mired in Russophobia and has become simply unable to ensure the safety of all delegations arriving on its territory, as well as to provide unhindered access to OSCE events to all participants on a non-discriminatory basis," Zakharova said.
That is why Russia, the diplomat continued, has been raising the issue of the need to move the headquarters of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and humanitarian activities from Poland to another country for several years. "However, ignoring Russia's position, the current [Finnish] chairmanship, with the assistance of the ODIHR, is organizing illegal replacements for such events in the form of the aforementioned conference," she said.
