Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Washington on Thursday of threatening the future of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) by rejecting reform of its election monitoring arm.
President Vladimir Putin, enraged by the decision of the organisation's ODIHR election watchdog to pull out from monitoring Russia's December 2 parliamentary polls, called on Monday for a review of the organisation's status.
US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns responded by saying that Washington "will not give a millimetre of opening to any proposal that will weaken the ODIHR". "This is not a constructive position," Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying on Thursday. "Any reluctance to step back means reluctance to make deals."
"This is not the first time that we see such an attitude," Lavrov added. "Unfortunately, it does not give extra hopes for the future of the OSCE." His remarks coincided with the start of an OSCE ministerial meeting in Madrid.
Lavrov said that Russia would remain committed to its obligations and would invite observers from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to presidential polls on March 2, when Putin's successor will be elected.
The ODIHR scrapped plans to monitor the parliamentary polls on November 16, blaming Russian obstruction and saying Moscow had failed to issue entry visas to its observer team. "We want the OSCE to match the times," Lavrov said. "The organisation has been created long ago and should change."
"The OSCE needs a new charter, new rules," he added. Disagreements over the OSCE's future are part of a broader rift between Russia and the West, which includes clashes over the future of Serbia's breakaway region of Kosovo and over Iran, suspected by the West of trying to produce nuclear bombs.