LAVROV PRESSES OSCE CHIEF ON REFORMS
Sergei Grits / AP

The Moscow Times, Russia
June 22, 2006

Lavrov, right, welcoming de Brichambaut during their meeting Wednesday.

Reform of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
topped the agenda at Wednesday’s meeting between Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov and OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut.

Russia says the multinational group, and especially its Office
for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights must stop applying
a double standard when it comes to monitoring elections in former
Soviet republics.

Most recently, Russia has opposed OSCE election-monitoring in Belarus,
where President Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected in March to a
third term and OSCE monitors declared the election rigged.

"OSCE member-states understand the need for reform," Foreign Ministry
spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said Wednesday, Itar-Tass reported.

OSCE spokesman Martin Nesirsky responded that the ODIHR "applies the
same standards whenever it is invited to monitor."

The Foreign Ministry wants the OSCE to adopt a code of regulations,
give more power to the secretary general and make the financing of
its projects more transparent.

Russia has slashed its annual contribution to the 55-member group to
$7.5 million from $11.4 million and has threatened to cut it further.

The United States has accused Russia of trying to block the OSCE’s
democracy-building projects.

During their meeting, Lavrov and de Brichambaut also discussed the
ongoing conflicts in Transdnestr and Nagorno-Karabakh. Lavrov said
Russia wanted "to continue the dialogue to increase the efficiency"
of the organization.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress