Estonia had been due to take over the annually rotating OSCE chairmanship but Russia spent months blocking it. A last-minute deal for neutral Malta to take over the chairmanship must also be formally approved at Thursday and Friday's OSCE meeting in Skopje, hosted by the current chair North Macedonia.

The OSCE is not the only international body where the West and Russia meet. Lavrov still attends Group of 20 events around the world and the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry says it has given permission to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's plane to cross its airspace en route to North Macedonia's capital, Skopje, where he is to attend a November 29-December 1 meeting of the Council of Ministers of the OSCE.

Ukraine said on Tuesday its foreign minister would boycott a meeting of the OSCE in North Macedonia this week because Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov intends to take part for the first time during the 21-month full-scale invasion.

The foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have said that they will join Ukraine in its boycott of this week's OSCE ministerial meeting in Skopje due to the attendance of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov plans to travel to North Macedonia later this week to attend a conference, a trip that would mark his first visit to a NATO member country since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania’s foreign ministers have objected to the presence of Russia’s Sergei Lavrov in Skopje.