LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (MNA/ITALPRESS) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to visit Malta next month to represent Russia in a meeting for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which Malta currently chairs.

This means that Malta will be the first European Union country to host Lavrov since Russia invaded Ukraine.

When Russian media asked the Maltese embassy in Russia, it replied that every member of the OSCE is invited to the organisation’s meetings. According to Russian media, the information was also confirmed by the official representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. The meeting in Malta will take place between 5th and 6th December.

Lavrov has been serving in this position since 2004. In recent years, he has strongly defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, alleging that the Ukrainian people needed to be freed from the “tyranny” of the Ukrainian government.

Despite the invasion, Lavrov maintained that Russia did not attack Ukraine and that it had a mission to free Ukraine from a “Nazi regime”. Last year, during a meeting of the G20 nations in India, various delegates were unimpressed by his claims that Ukraine attacked Russia, not the other way around.

Lavrov, together with the remainder of Vladimir Putin’s Cabinet, is under European Union sanctions in connection with the illegal invasion. Despite this, this does not mean that Lavrov is completely barred from entering the EU.

The last time Lavrov visited an EU country was a trip to Stockholm for an OSCE gathering in December 2021, according to the Russian foreign ministry.

In 2023, Lavrov traveled to North Macedonia for an OSCE ministerial, after Bulgaria gave permission for his plane to cross its airspace en route to Skopje. The move sparked criticism from Kyiv, with several countries including Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania choosing to boycott the meeting over Lavrov’s participation.

(ITALPRESS).

Foto: Agenzia Fotogramma

Source: medNews