OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation N°1085 Vienna, 24 July 2024

1. Dear Ambassador, as we meet for this closing session under the Croatian FSC Chairpersonship, the EU and its Member States acknowledge and commend you and your team for your stalwart efforts over the past trimester, to ensure that this Forum continued to function according to its mandate and in line with the OSCE Rules of Procedure. Despite Russia's disrespectful, undiplomatic and disruptive attempts your strong leadership ensured that dialogue and consultations continued.
2. Your Security Dialogues on mine action, military education, open source intelligence and the women, peace and security agenda all focused on issues inextricably linked to the FSC mandate and clearly merited discussion on each occasion. We would also like to reiterate that gender mainstreaming and women's participation are cross cutting priorities and any Security Dialogue in the political-military dimension should consider aspects of the women, peace and security agenda as an intrinsic element.
3. Rightfully, Russia's war of aggression which brings death and destruction to Ukraine remained the dominant issue throughout your Chairpersonship. Russia's war of aggression, supported by Belarus, violates the UN Charter and the principles and commitments of this Organisation, with countless soldiers dying on the battlefield and Russia's continuous attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure exacerbating the suffering. Clearly, every single casualty of this war of aggression is the result of Russia's decision to start its full-scale invasion in February 2022. No amount of Russian disinformation and attempts to distort reality either in this Forum or elsewhere will change that. The EU and its Member States condemn Russia's actions in the strongest possible terms.
4. Regrettably, not all of the discussions could have taken place in a formal setting as mandated by the OSCE Rules of Procedure. Throughout your Chairpersonship, Russia blocked five meetings with various pretexts, including those which only contained a minimum agenda of 'general statements' and 'any other business'.
5. Just last week we were told a pre-recorded presentation by a representative of the Capital was required to fully deliver the Russian position, while in fact in June the Russian delegation had already circulated another statement from the very same representative as if it had been made at the 1081 FSC meeting. A meeting that Russia itself paradoxically decided to block in order to prevent our regular formal discussions and statements. And it is not that we did not have another Russian representative of the Capital here recently, just three weeks ago. Any of these statements could and should have been made by the members of the Russian delegation here in Hofburg, so that this Forum remains a platform for dialogue.
6. Mr Chair, your dedication and innovative solutions helped us overcome the obstacles posed by one participating State trying to arbitrarily block our discussions and allowed all the other 56 to continue dialogue within the politico-military mandate of this Forum. We thank you for guiding us in these challenging circumstances and commend your perseverance and hard work throughout the last four months.
7. Allow us now to wish Denmark all the best for its Chairpersonship. We also say goodbye to Cyprus and welcome Spain to the Troika. You can all count on our continuous support.

Thank you.
The Candidate Countries NORTH MACEDONIA*, MONTENEGRO*, ALBANIA*, UKRAINE, the REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA, BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA*, and GEORGIA, the EFTA countries ICELAND, LIECHTENSTEIN and NORWAY, members of the European Economic Area, as well as ANDORRA and SAN MARINO align themselves with this statement.
* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and Bosnia and H