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MOSCOW, Feb 2, BNS - Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Moscow supports goals of Vilnius as the Chairmanship of he Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Following a Wednesday meeting with Azubalis, the chairperson-in-office of the OSCE, Lavrov underlined the organization's summit in Astana last December raised "huge expectations" for the future.

In his words, at the end of Kazakhstan's Chairmanship "political declarations were made aimed at the creation of a united and undivided Euro-Atlantic security area."

"To translate the task into the language of practical actions is not easy. But the action program proposed by the Lithuanian Chairmanship, to my mind, matches the tasks raised in Astana and covers all the major organization's military-political, economic-environmental and humanitarian directions. (..) We support this work," Lavrov said.

The Russian minister said more attention should be paid to the institutional structure of the OSCE.

"We have wanted long ago for this structure, which is called an organization but it's not, to become a full-rate international organization with its status. (...) We are sure that a strong OSCE, strong legally and institutionally, is in every country's interest," Lavrov said.

Calling the meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart very useful, Lavrov said they shared thoughts on how to make events planned during Lithuania's OSCE Chairmanship "most effective."

"It seems that we've been heard," Lavrov concluded.