OSCE countries' foreign ministers meet on Thursday and Friday in the North Macedonian capital of Skopje to discuss the chair role and renewing four senior OSCE officials in their posts at the Vienna-based organisation.
Small, neutral European Union member state Malta was acceptable to all sides.
The deal "brings with it the guarantee of another year of functionality and a legitimate chair," one senior Western diplomat said.
Russia and staunch ally Belarus have still not backed the renewal of four senior OSCE officials in their posts, including veteran German diplomat Helga Schmid as OSCE secretary-general, diplomats said.
"We do care about the top four but the chair is existential - the organization cannot operate without it," the Western diplomat said.
Persons:
Francois Murphy VIENNA, Bujar Osmani, Helga Schmid, Francois Murphy, Cynthia Osterman
Organizations:
Organization for Security, Cooperation, OSCE, Macedonian, Twitter, European, NATO, Union
Locations:
Europe, Malta, Russia, Estonia, Macedonian, Skopje, Vienna, United States, Canada, Central Asian, European Union, Britain, Ukraine, Belarus, Western, Moscow, Washington