Ukraine, Russian diplomats trade barbs at Malta summit
VALETTA, MALTA
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrives at the venue for the 31st Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Malta, 05 Dec. 2024.
Ukraine's foreign minister called Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov a "war criminal" Thursday as they both attended an international summit in Malta, the latter's first visit to an EU member since the 2022 invasion.
Ukraine's Andriy Sybiga also accused Moscow of being "the biggest threat to our common security" as the two foreign ministers sat on the same huge table at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
"Russia is not a partner; it is the biggest threat to our common security. Russia's participation in the OSCE is a threat to cooperation in Europe," Sybiga told ministers from the 57-member body.
"When Russians say they want peace they lie," he said, adding: "Ukraine continues to fight for its right to exist.
"And the Russian war criminal at this table must know: Ukraine will win this right and justice will prevail."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also in Ta'Qali, near Valetta, for the talks, though officials said he had no plans to meet Lavrov.
Blinken accused Lavrov of spreading a "tsunami of misinformation" and blamed Moscow for escalating the war in Ukraine.
"Now I regret that our colleague, Mr. Lavrov, has left the room, not giving me the courtesy to listen to us as we listen to him. And of course, our Russian colleague is very adept in drowning listeners with a tsunami of misinformation," Blinken said.
"But let's not fool ourselves and let's not allow him or anyone else to fool us. This is not about and has never been about Russia's security. This is about Mr. Putin's imperial project to erase Ukraine from the map."
He added: "One of our colleagues talked about escalation. He's exactly right. Let's talk about escalation."
He referenced North Korea sending troops to fight in the war with Ukraine, as well as "the ongoing assault on Ukraine's energy, including its nuclear transmission group, which poses a great threat to every single country in this room".
'Destabilizing'
Lavrov, who has been sanctioned by the European Union, had not visited an EU country since a December 2021 trip to Stockholm, again for an OSCE meeting, Russian media reported.
Sitting between the representatives of San Marino and Romania, he railed against the EU, NATO and in particular the United States.
He said the West was behind a "reincarnation of the Cold War, only now with a much greater risk of a transition to a hot one", according to a transcript of his remarks from RIA Navosti.
He also accused Washington of military exercises in the Asia-Pacific region that sought to "destabilise the entire Eurasian continent".
The OSCE was founded in 1975 to ease tensions between the East and the West during the Cold War, and now counts 57 members from Türkiye to Mongolia, including Britain and Canada as well as the United States.
It helps its members coordinate issues such as human rights and arms control, but Lavrov at the last ministerial summit a year ago in North Macedonia accused the OSCE of becoming an "appendage" of NATO and the EU.
Ukraine has called for Russia to be excluded from the organisation, and boycotted the Skopje summit over Lavrov's attendance.
Summit host Ian Borg, Malta's foreign minister, opened proceedings Thursday with a call for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine.
Blinken also accused Lavrov — who at that point was no longer in the room — of spreading a "tsunami of misinformation" and blamed Moscow for an escalation in Ukraine.
Many other participants railed against Moscow's aggression at a delicate time for Kiev.
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has vowed to press for a quick deal to end the war, leaving Kiev scrambling to obtain security guarantees from Western allies and supplies of key weaponry before the January inauguration.
'Channels of communication'
In 2022, OSCE host Poland refused to let Lavrov attend their summit, and Poland's minister questioned why Moscow was still allowed to be part of the organisation.
A spokesman for Malta told AFP on Wednesday that while he faces an EU asset freeze, there was no travel ban on Lavrov, and he was invited to "keep some channels of communication open".
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that a number of Western countries were "using this platform for their own interests", arguing that the body had been "Ukrainianised".
But German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters in Malta that the OSCE "stands for security and freedom and we will defend it".
The OSCE has been paralysed since the Ukraine invasion, as Russia has vetoed several major decisions, which require consensus.
The posts of secretary general and three other top officials have been vacant since September because of a lack of agreement over their successors.
Ambassadors have reached agreement on Turkish diplomat Feridun Sinirlioglu as new secretary general to replace Germany's Helga Maria Schmid, a diplomatic source told AFP.
The ministers in Malta will also be seeking to agree which country will chair the OSCE in 2026 and 2027.
Russia had blocked NATO member Estonia from holding the chairmanship this year. Finland, which joined NATO last year, is up for the post in 2025.
The OSCE sends observers to conflicts as well as elections around the world. It also runs programmes that aim to combat human trafficking and ensure media freedom.
But its efforts have been hampered by an inability to agree a budget since 2021.