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Vice-Minister Plepytė at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Vienna: Russia's war against Ukraine violates all the principles of the Helsinki Final Act, and Russia will be held to account

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Updated 2025-12-05

On 3-5 December, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Audra Plepytė, attended the 32nd Ministerial Council meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, Austria.

By starting the war against Ukraine, Russia has violated all the fundamental principles of the Helsinki Final Act, such as sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, inviolability of borders, and respect for human rights, and disregarded its commitments to the OSCE and UN, violating the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and its obligations under international law. Russia is directly responsible for undermining the entire rules-based world order," the Vice-Minister said at the plenary session of the Ministerial Council meeting.

Plepytė also expressed her full support for Ukraine, its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stressed that Russia must be held to account for its crimes of aggression and the war.

The Vice-Minister condemned the ongoing Belarusian hybrid attacks against Lithuania, which violate the Lithuanian state border and pose a threat to the security of civil aviation, and the continued economic pressure by hijacking and holding the property of private companies registered in European Union countries hostage.

"We must also bear in mind the role of the Belarusian regime in enabling Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, including the involvement of Belarusian authorities in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children," Plepytė noted.

On the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Council, the Vice-Minister met with the OSCE Secretary General Feridun H. Sinirlioğlu, the Director of the OSCE for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Maria Telalian, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Jan Braathu, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Christophe Kamp, and the Director of the OSCE's Conflict Prevention Centre (CPC), Kate Fearon. The meetings highlighted the need to maintain support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, to continue documenting Russian war crimes in order to seek Russia's accountability, and highlighted the Belarusian regime's hybrid attack against Lithuania.

Plepytė also participated in a side event, which was organized by Lithuania together with Ukraine and other countries to draw the attention of the international community to the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children by Russia. In a discussion with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on the future of democratic Belarus, the Vice-Minister presented Lithuania's actions aimed at holding the Lukashenko regime accountable for violations of international law and human rights, and called on other countries to support the Belarusian democratic community.

The OSCE is the world's largest regional security body, established in 1975 to foster comprehensive security and stability, human rights, and to address economic and environmental issues across 57 diverse European and Central Asian states.

The organisation is currently chaired by Finland and will be chaired by Switzerland in 2026.