MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian president criticized Tuesday attempts to transform the world's biggest regional security organization into a warder keeping guard over post-Soviet territory.
"The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was formed as an organization for security in Europe, and not only to resolve conflicts in the post-Soviet space," Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Spanish media on the eve of his official visit to Madrid.
"It is completely wrong, in our opinion, to make the OSCE a warder keeping guard over the post-Soviet space," Putin said. "It has not been formed for this purpose."
"We will certainly continue working with the OSCE, though, on the condition that all participants in this process, this joint work, will have equal, non-discriminatory access to decision-making," the Russian president said, adding that a member country's right to make independent decisions should be a governing principle in the work of the organization.
"The OSCE apparatus should not substitute the member countries of this organization," Putin said. "In addition, the apparatus and all administrative structures should adopt a principle ensuring that all countries are represented on a proper and equal level."
Russian officials earlier questioned the role of OSCE monitors in elections in former Soviet states, particularly in events following voting in Ukraine and Georgia that led to "revolutions" sweeping pro-Western authorities to power. The international observers denied any wrongdoing.
