New OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Going to Visit Ukraine

On 1 January 2021, Sweden took over the Chair of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Ann Linde became a new OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for a period of one year.

According to her, Sweden’s OSCE Chair will focus on defending the European security order, addressing protracted conflicts and enhancing democracy and gender equality.

“The ongoing conflicts and crises in the OSCE area, in particular the situation in Belarus, in and around Ukraine, and the increased tensions around Nagorno-Karabakh, require the continued, common attention of our organisation,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden said.

At the same time, the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas informed that Ann Linde plans to make her first foreign visit as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office to Ukraine in January.

“The new incumbent Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Ann Linde has already stated that Sweden’s OSCE Chair will support the work of the Normandy format and the Trilateral Contact Group to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders… We look forward to welcoming her [Ann Linde] to Kyiv this month. We hope that this visit will be an important opportunity for the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office to see with her own eyes the consequences of the ongoing armed aggression and the temporary occupation of parts of the territory of Ukraine by the Russian Federation,” the TCG wrote on its Facebook page.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba added that he was also looking forward to meeting with his Swedish counterpart in the Ukrainian capital to “discuss joint efforts to further defend European security order.”

As a reminder, the Office of the President of Ukraine stated that French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte are expected to visit Kyiv this year.

Bohdan Marusyak