Russian Foreign Ministry says OSCE head gave Lavrov music box with Tchaikovsky composition
Ignazio Cassis, Swiss Foreign Minister and Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), has presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a music box playing 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 in this way to remind people that the premiere of the ballet Sleeping Beauty took place on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on 15 January 1890.
She also quoted Cassis as saying while presenting the gift: "So that people remember that Russia is part of Europe."
In response, Lavrov presented the OSCE chair with a casket depicting the Kremlin.
"The Kremlin, even when painted, frightened Western representatives so much that they only held the gift briefly in their hands and were afraid to take it with them. They had to send it 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, on behalf of the organisation, he had presented three groups of ideas in both capitals and is now awaiting a response.
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