Special Session “Security situation in the OSCE area” Statement delivered by EEAS Managing Director for Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia, regional cooperation and OSCE Mr. Michael Siebert

Mr. Chairperson,Mr. Secretary General,Dear colleagues,   For four years now, our agenda consists of only one broad topic “Security situation in the OSCE area”, and as such is departing from the traditional format that the Annual Security Review Conference had until 2021. This shift is no coincidence as since 2022, we have been confronted with a threat unlike any we have faced in recent times, as one participating State wages a war of aggression against another. Russia has violated this organisation’s core principles and commitments, enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act, whose 50 th anniversary we ought to commemorate this year. Accordingly, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine rightly remains at the top of our agenda, given its far-reaching consequences that extend well beyond the OSCE area. The EU and its Member States stand united in their strongest condemnation of Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine. We are appalled by Russia’s continued and heinous attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including the one yesterday in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which killed at least 20 civilians and injured nearly 300 others. This war is not only an attack on Ukraine, it is a direct assault on the fundamental principles enshrined in the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and the 1990 Charter of Paris for a New Europe. These are the pillars upon which our global community and institutions are built. Challenging these principles...