Russia’s Lavrov attends OSCE meeting in Malta in first visit to EU country since Ukraine invasion

VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Malta for the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in his first visit to a European Union nation since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also were attending the meeting that put Ukraine at the top of the agenda.

Malta’s Foreign Minister Ian Borg told the session that Russia’s war “continues to pose a systematic threat to European security.”

The visit marked Lavrov’s first visit to a EU member nation since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It has been relatively rare for Lavrov to attend forums involving senior Western officials, although he recently took part in the United Nations General Assembly and the G20 summit in Brazil.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on her message app that Malta had annulled her visa to accompany Lavrov.

The Maltese foreign affairs office said that three OSCE member countries had objected to extending the visa to Zakharova, who is under a travel ban. Lavrov is subject to EU sanctions, but faces no travel ban.

Lavrov attended the event last year in Skopje, North Macedonia, but Poland denied him a visa the previous year in the wake of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine.

Blinken travelled to Malta from Brussels, where he attended what was likely to be his last NATO meeting of the outgoing Biden administration. Ukraine’s foreign minister was also attending, after Ukraine boycotted last year over Lavrov’s attendance.

Reporters Without Borders called on the OSCE to call for the release of 38 journalists detained by Russia, including 19 Ukrainians arrested in illegally occupied territories. It said in a statement that Russia is the world’s fifth-largest jailer of journalists.