If the Western countries respected the OSCE declarations, the Karabakh, Kosovo and Transnistrian conflict would have been settled long ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Lavrov said Russia is strongly committed to the declarations that had been adopted over the last 20 years within OSCE and Russia-NATO council. He assured that everyone wants to form an area of “equal security” in Euro-Atlantic and Eurasia regions, but no one will strengthen its security at the expense of infringement of others’ security.

Unfortunately, the declarations remained on paper in the form of political promises, Lavrov added.

“Our attempts to make them legally binding were rejected by Western countries. I am convinced that if this did not happen and if the equal and indivisible security actually acquired a legally binding form, many conflicts that are now present in Europe would have been settled long ago. I think this refers to the Transnistrian, Karabakh and Kosovo conflicts,” Lavrov explained. “With legally binding norms of equal security, it has long been possible to agree on the non-use of force in Transcaucasia, which we have long been striving for. The most recent Ukrainian crisis, probably, would not have existed if we all respected the commitments undertaken at the OSCE, namely equal and indivisible security.”