Chairpersons,
Colleagues,
Norway has aligned herself to the statement held by the EU and fully subscribes to its content and recommendations. In my national capacity I would like to underline the following:
We are disappointment over the Russian Federation’s failure to react to questions raised in notifications and statements and not participating in the meeting held on Tuesday or today. We are deeply concerned about the Russian neglect to follow the letter as well as the spirit of the Vienna Document, including the risk reduction mechanism as laid down in its Chapter III, § 16.
The military build-up in and around Ukraine and the escalatory rhetoric from Moscow is deeply worrying. Moscow has a clear option to choose diplomacy.
Norway shares Ukraine’s legitimate security concern about the unusual, and unscheduled military activity of the Russian Federation close to Ukraine’s borders.
The security situation is alarming, not only for the people of Ukraine, but also for the people in the Russian Federation and in the entire OSCE region. We must make use of the tools available to de-escalate the situation, we therefore recommend and urge Russia to come to the diplomatic table, take part in the dialogue, answer the questions raised, show transparency, and take part in the implementation of the Vienna Document.
The disregard of the OSCE commitments and mechanisms we now see from the Russian Federation further contributes to the degradation of confidence and trust in bilateral and multilateral relations and the equal and indivisible security in Europe.
I certainly echo the point made by my Swedish collegue, that it is not up to one single participating state to decide when the Vienna document is applicable.
We are in this together
Thank you