🎙 Read excerpts from statement of Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OSCE Alexander Volgarev (meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, 26 January 2023)

On the recent Anti-Islamic Attacks in Europe

Inter-confessional and inter-ethnic harmony is a hallmark of Russia, where the feelings of believers are respected and protected

Amid the mutually respectful and legally protected existence of all religions and confessions in Russia, we note a serious rise in Islamophobia in the OSCE area

Anti-Islam radicals are still allowed to hold public events in some European countries where they vandalise books and notions sacred to believers

On 21 January another ugly and provocative attack on Islam took place in Stockholm - a radical burned a sacred book for Muslims - the holy Koran. The action was carried out with the knowledge of Swedish law-enforcement agencies, under the guise of "freedom of speech"

Permissiveness, disguised by references to «freedom of speech», results in incitement to interreligious discord and insulting the feelings of believers

The OSCE has accumulated a significant volume of commitments on tolerance and non-discrimination. 2014 OSCE MC Basel tasking on developing declarations on Christiano-and Islamophobia should be finally imlemented

We call on North Macedonian OSCE CiO to prioritise the imlementation of this important task