Lavrov to have negotiations with Italian, Spanish, and Serbian counterparts at OSCE Ministerial Council
MOSCOW. Dec 1 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will have over a dozen bilateral meetings at the upcoming OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Basel and the Russian foreign minister continues to receive requests from counterparts wanting to meet with him, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov said.
"A large series of bilateral meetings is planned. It's always a key component of these kinds of events. There will be meetings with the foreign ministers of Italy, Spain and Serbia. Over ten meetings are planned," he said in an interview with Interfax, responding to a question about Lavrov's upcoming bilateral negotiations at the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Basel.
"A meeting with incumbent OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Didier Burkhalter is also expected to take place," Meshkov said.
The diplomat reiterated that requests for meetings with the Russian foreign minister continue to arrive and therefore there is no reason to speak about Russia's isolation.
"The attempts to speak about Russia's isolation are absurd. It's more likely that we are facing the issue of how to find time for all those partners who have requested bilateral meetings with our minister, and such requests keep coming," Meshkov said.