Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said that Russia has grossly violated the basic principles of international law, and that Sergey Lavrov’s speech at the OSCE Ministerial Council sounded like it came from a “parallel universe.”
He said this during the plenary session of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Malta.
According to the Norwegian minister, Russia ignores all the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the UN Charter.
“The first and foremost rule of international relations is not to attack or occupy other countries. We must respect the sovereign equality and territorial integrity of states. These are the principles that Russia is grossly violating,” Eide emphasized.
He noted that against the backdrop of these violations, Lavrov’s statement looked like “reality from another dimension.”
“But it cannot fool anyone. We are well aware of what is happening. Ukraine must win this war, and it will. Many countries support its heroic struggle not only for its own freedom, but also for the values we all share,” Eide emphasized.
He also added that after Ukraine’s victory, the international community should jointly define what the new post-war world will look like.