Lavrov arrives in Malta to participate in OSCE Ministerial Council meeting

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in Malta to participate in the OSCE Ministerial Council.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Russian side intends to draw particular attention to the failure to issue visas to representatives of the Russian Federation for participation in OSCE events. The agency drew attention to the cancelation of the visa of the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova with the wording "due to circumstances beyond their control".

"The current institutional crisis of the OSCE has become a consequence of destructive actions of a number of Western countries <...> Since 2022, due to the "Ukrainianization" of the OSCE agenda, its activities in the three dimensions of security (politico-military, economic-environmental and humanitarian) are practically paralyzed", - stated in the message.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also reported that Lavrov is scheduled to meet with a number of foreign ministers of several countries within the framework of the Ministerial Council.

Earlier in the day it became known that the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova was canceled Maltese visa to the OSCE with the wording "due to circumstances beyond their control." The Russian Foreign Ministry called this an unprecedented case. It is noted that the visa issued to the diplomat was canceled before the departure of the Russian delegation from Moscow to the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (CMFA).

The Foreign Ministry announced Russia's plans to participate in the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Malta in early October. It specified that several meetings had already been held to discuss the participation of all OSCE members.

Later, on November 1, it was reported that Poland and its partners could not agree on their reaction to the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting. As Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski pointed out, no decision on this issue has been taken at present and it is being discussed among allies.