CLOSING RANKS FOR NATIONAL AND COMMON SECURITY

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vilayet Guliev addressed the OSCE on behalf of the five GUUAM countries, underscoring their solidarity of purpose. Guliev warned against the dangers of “ethnic intolerance and ethnic cleansing, acquisition of territories, aggressive separatism and terrorism in their interrelationship, and illegal arms deliveries.” Without naming Moscow publicly, the joint statement was obviously referring to Moscow’s support for the secession of parts of Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan, the arming of unlawful local forces as proxies, and the direct Russian military presence in Moldova and Georgia. Those issues topped the agenda of the closed-doors plenary meetings. Russia’s refusal to correct its policies in Moldova and Georgia was one of the main problems that led this OSCE conference into impasse.