German Foreign Minister slams decision to close OSCE Office in Minsk

• 2.01.2011, 3:15

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle criticizes the intention of Belarusian authorities.

It has been stated by dpa agency on Friday December 31.

As said by the German minister, the decision to close the Minsk office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).demonstrates the authoritarian policy of official Minsk and its estranging itself from the European system of values.

We remind that earlier heads of the Polish and German foreign affairs committees in the respective parliaments have issued a joint declaration on the recent elections in Belarus. They urged Lithuania, which takes on the leadership of the OSCE in 2011, to push for more OSCE activity in Belarus, with the support of Poland and Germany.

It should be noted that earlier OSCE election observers described the December 19 presidential vote as "flawed" and falling short of the OSCE standards.