Russia on Thursday accused the West of using the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as an instrument to promote its own interests, warning that the organization had to change in order to survive, according to DPA. Motives linked to "group interests" and double standards used for different countries could bring "the whole European security architecture" to a "collapse," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at an annual OSCE ministerial council meeting in Madrid. Lavrov also warned against "hurried steps" in Kosovo, where the West wants to maintain the OSCE mission even if the province becomes independent from Serbia, and called for more transparency and an end to "abuses" in OSCE field missions. Russia remained "open to dialogue" about the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) arms control treaty which it intends to abandon, but does not accept to always accede to Western demands before NATO makes corresponding moves, Lavrov explained.
