UK statement to the OSCE Ministerial 2025: Minister Doughty
Minister for Europe, North America and UK Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty, delivers UK Statement during the 2025 OSCE Ministerial Council in Vienna, holding Russia to account and outlining the UK's unwavering support for Ukraine
Thank you, Chair.
Delegates may not be aware that actually one of my first jobs after university was with this organisation’s Parliamentary Assembly in Denmark, alongside colleagues from all the nations around this table.
As young interns, we worked together to attempt to uphold the principles that this organisation is built on: sovereignty, peace, territorial integrity, the integrity of elections, the upholding of basic freedoms.
And so, it is a particular tragedy to be here 22 years later around this table when Russia has torn those principles apart through its illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine.
It has trampled the Helsinki Final Act and violated every commitment that this organisation was founded on.
And I saw the consequences first-hand during my visit to Kyiv earlier this year: families huddled in basements, drones and missiles exploding just metres away in civilian areas.
And of course, this horror does not spare Ukraine’s children. Russian forces have killed and maimed them in their homes and in their kindergartens.
Tens of thousands of boys and girls have been snatched from their families, deported, indoctrinated, as this organisation has reported so powerfully.
And I met three of those young people who had escaped recently, and I have the picture on my mantlepiece painted by another receiving support after escaping that captivity.
And when I think of those children, I can only ask the Russian representative around this table:
Where is the shame, and where is the decency?
Because this is a campaign to erase a nation’s future – and no right-thinking country, not least around this table, can ever stand by and watch.
And that is why I am here to tell you all that the United Kingdom will always stand with Ukraine and particularly with its children.
I want to praise the efforts of many in this room, not least the First Ladies of the United States, of Ukraine and so many others for speaking up so definitively on this crucial issue.
We are backing efforts to bring those children home – committing more than £2.8 million to help trace and return them.
And we are committed to holding Russia to account – for its illegal, unprovoked, and unjustifiable war against Ukraine; for the forced deportations of innocent children; and for unlawfully detaining civilians, including, as has been referenced, three members of this organisation’s staff.
And we will keep up the relentless scrutiny through this organisation and others.
The Moscow Mechanism reports form the bedrock of our efforts to hold Russia to account.
And we will continue to exert pressure through sweeping sanctions and support for international justice mechanisms.
Because, colleagues, we owe that to those who signed the Helsinki Final Act 50 years ago – and to the citizens of every country represented here today, including Russia.
Because of course, Russia’s people are suffering at Putin’s hands – hundreds of thousands of lives lost, political prisoners locked up for opposing the war, an economy squeezed by sanctions.
And let us also be clear, as has been referenced, that Moscow’s actions pose a clear threat to peace and security across Europe and indeed beyond.
From cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure to incursions into the airspace of countries around this table, through the continued occupation of territories beyond its borders.
And these have implications of course not just for Euro-Atlantic security, but global security too.
And that is why we call on Russia to honour its OSCE commitments and withdraw its forces from Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, from Transnistria in Moldova, in full compliance with international law.
Even as we hold Russia to account, of course, efforts to secure peace continue.
And President Trump’s efforts and Ukraine’s constructive and principled engagement have driven real progress in recent weeks. Indeed, a deal could be historic, and a turning point for Europe’s security, but it will be tough.
Putin has broken his word time and again, and there is yet no sign that he is ready to negotiate in good faith.
So, whatever the coming days bring, we must focus on the future – and that is a future with a strong, peaceful and prosperous Ukraine.
And the OSCE must be ready to help it recover and rebuild.
It has a wealth of expertise to offer: monitoring a ceasefire, decommissioning weapons, helping veterans to reintegrate.
And its wider expertise, in the defence of freedoms and core values – and we will need every ounce of that expertise to help Ukraine stand strong again.
The OSCE of course was created to prevent Europe from sliding back into war, and it has proven its ability to have an important impact in the past. Particularly in the Western Balkans, where it continues to work in support of lasting stability and security through its institutions and field missions.
And we will work with partners in that region, the OSCE, and through the Berlin Process, and other forums, to ensure that we have stability in the Western Balkans.
And also, I welcome too, as others have, the developments in Armenia and Azerbaijan – the leadership of President Trump and so many others, and bold steps taken by colleagues in the region.
And I am delighted with our new strategic partnerships with both countries - and we must work for peace and stability there too.
But beyond that, this organisation, our continent, our shared security is being tested like never before. So our task today is not only to challenge aggression but to prepare for peace.
We cannot look away – or allow aggression to triumph.
I welcome the conversations on reform, but we must recommit to the Decalogue, to those Helsinki Final Act principles.
Reaffirm, honour and deliver on the solemn commitments that we all made 50 years ago.
Thank you very much.