Putin, Belarus and the glorious Albanian OSCE chairmanship

In the sweltering heat of the dog days of August, a surprising news item graced the opening of the prime time news editions of the main pro-government televisions: that Russian President Putin had recommended strongly to his Belarusian counterpart to accept the intermediary role and offer of the OSCE currently chaired by Albania and PM Rama. This much was allegedly conveyed to Albanian Prime Minister Rama in a half an hour telephone call with Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s powerful and experienced foreign Affairs Minister. The airplane was on the tarmac ready to depart, destination Minsk… Those who thought this was too weird to be true weresoon vindicated as the Russian Embassy in Tirana despite the late hour lost no time in issuing promptly a declarationthat…