Austria will closely coordinate its response to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s message on indivisible security with its European Union partners, an Austrian Foreign Ministry official told TASS on Thursday, when asked what kind of response Vienna could give to Lavrov’s message.
"We will closely coordinate our response with our EU partners and other like-minded countries. We certainly welcome diplomatic efforts that contribute to de-escalation," the official said.
According to the Austrian Foreign Ministry, Vienna and all the actors "who signed the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, have the obligation to protect and ensure sovereign equality and the inviolability of other countries’ borders."
Russia expects a prompt reaction to Lavrov’s message on indivisible security, which was sent to the top diplomats of the United States, Canada, and a number of European countries on January 28, according to the message published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website. Russian Ambassador to Vienna Dmitry Lyubinsky said on January 31 that Moscow had handed Lavrov’s message to his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg over to the Austrian Foreign Ministry.