INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
ministers said Lavrov's planned attendance "risks legitimizing aggressor Russia as a rightful member of our community of free nations,"
adding that they "decided not to attend" this week's meeting in Skopje.Lavrov said Monday that North Macedonia, which has joined Western
sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, had agreed to let him attend the annual meeting of the pan-European security body of which
Russia is a member.Russian state media said that Bulgaria, which is an EU member state, informed Moscow it would allow Lavrov's plane to
cross its airspace on his way to Skopje.On Tuesday, Ukraine said it would "boycott" the meeting over Lavrov's invite, and the Baltic states
followed suit."Lavrov's attendance trivializes the atrocious crimes that Russia continues to commit," Estonian Foreign Minister Margus
Tsahkna said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels."Lavrov's place is at a special tribunal, not the OSCE table," he added,
explaining the joint move by the Baltic states to skip the meeting.Last year, OSCE host Poland refused to let Lavrov attend, sparking an
angry response from Russia.
