Skopje, 1 December 2023 (MIA) – Foreign Minister Lavrov, with all due respect, has a tendency to cast blame on others, said the United States Ambassador to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter, asked by MIA to respond to the statement of Russian top diplomat Sergei Lavrov, that “all problems the Balkans has been facing originate from the West and since the time of the breakup of former Yugoslavia”.

“I think Foreign Minister Lavrov, with all due respect, has a tendency to cast blame on others, and he has perfected that art. A little bit more introspection on Russian malign influence in various democratic countries, including the Western Balkans where it is very pronounced, would be appropriate from him,” said Carpenter at a press conference on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council on Friday.

Asked to comment the statement of Lavrov that U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, “fled a meeting” with him, Carpenter said “nobody wants to sit at the table with Foreign Minister Lavrov and listen to lies, disinformation and propaganda”.

“So, staying away from that table, I would say, is an act that makes a whole lot of sense if you’re someone who doesn’t engage in masochism,” added the Ambassador.

On whether he expects further blockades and vetoes within the OSCE, Carpenter said the Organization will continue to function.

“This is an Organization that is built on consensus, it was established in the early 1990s as a tool for cooperation. These days, of course, it’s much more difficult because, as I said earlier, Russia is flouting the basic rules of the international order. But we will try our best to make creative solutions to problems where we can achieve results, and that’s going to be our mantra going forward,” said Carpenter.

In answer to a journalist’s question on Kosovo, the U.S. diplomat said there has been no change in U.S. policy regarding Kosovo.

“We support Kosovo as a democratic, independent state, we very much support talks on the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, we think this is important for the region, we think it’s important for security and stability. We’ll continue to work with the European Union to achieve that aim and with our friends in Kosovo, where we have a functional democratic state that we have long supported since its independence,” said Ambassador Carpenter.