Russian Foreign Ministry says OSCE head gave Lavrov music box that plays Tchaikovsky piece – video
Ignazio Cassis, Swiss Foreign Minister and Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a music box that plays a composition by Pyotr Tchaikovsky during his visit to Moscow.
Source: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Zakharova claimed Cassis wanted to remind people that the premiere of the ballet Sleeping Beauty took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg on 15 January 1890.
She also quoted Cassis as saying, as he handed over the gift: "So that people remember that Russia is part of Europe."
In return, Lavrov gave Cassis a decorative box depicting the Kremlin.
"The Kremlin, even when painted, frightened the Western representatives so much that they only held the gift briefly in their hands and were afraid to take it with them. It had to be sent on after them," Zakharova wrote.
Background:
- Cassis visited Moscow on 5 February, having travelled to Kyiv beforehand. He was accompanied on the trips by OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioğlu.
- Following Cassis and Sinirlioğlu's visit to Ukraine, the OSCE said that it had the "tools" to support peace after the cessation of hostilities.
- Later, Cassis reported that he had presented three groups of ideas in both capitals on behalf of the OSCE and is now awaiting a response.
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