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Moscow has grown increasingly critical of the OSCE, which was set up to ease east-west tensions during the Cold War and aims to prevent conflict and manage crises in Europe.

Ahead of this week's summit, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Lavrov would use the occasion to criticise the OSCE's "institutional crisis".

Belarus is a member of the OSCE, a top trans-Atlantic security and rights group, and its monitors have been the only international observers at Belarusian elections for decades.

Since 1995, not a single election in Belarus has been recognized as free and fair by the OSCE.

Blinken accused Russia of “flagrant violations of every single core principle” of Cold War efforts to ease East-West tensions that led to the creation of the OSCE, and “relentless efforts to obstruct the OSCE’s work.”