At the OSCE summit in Malta, his first trip to a European Union country since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Russian foreign minister was called “ war criminal » by his Ukrainian counterpart. The Polish minister called for Russia’s suspension from the organization as long as it continues to wage war against Ukraine.
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The head of Russian diplomacy was in Malta on December 5 at the meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Present on site with his Ukrainian counterpart, but also with American Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he participated in particularly tense exchanges.
“ 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.”launched the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Andriï Sybiga at this meeting. Russia lies » when she speaks of peace and she represents “ the biggest threat » for security in Europe, he said.
A risk of “hot war” according to Lavrov
Sergey Lavrov took the floor and denounced the attitude of Western countries which, according to him, were not attentive to the warnings of President Vladimir Putin. He was responding to a question about press articles reporting thoughts in Europe about sending peacekeepers in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine. “ All these fantasies only make the situation worse, and show that people who promote such ideas prefer not to hear the very clear warnings that President Putin has repeatedly expressed “, he lamented.
The heads of Polish and Latvian diplomacy then left the room when the head of Russian diplomacy took the floor to accuse the West of exploiting and marginalizing the OSCE. “ Mr. Lavrov comes here to lie about the Russian invasion and what Russia is doing in Ukraine. And I’m not going to listen to these lies. I will not sit at the same table as Mr. Lavrov “, justified Polish Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who advocated the suspension of Russia within the OSCE as long as it continues its ” brutal war » against Ukraine. They were followed by half a dozen of their colleagues.
An “imperial project » Russian, according to the United States
Sergei Lavrov defended himself by accusing the United States, whose Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also present in Malta, of “ destabilize the Eurasian continent », judging that the news “ cold war » threatens to become “ hot “.
Reaction in the wake ofAnthony Blinken : “ I regret that our colleague Mr. Lavrov left the room, not giving me the courtesy of listening to us as we listened to him. And of course, our Russian colleague is very good at drowning listeners under a tsunami of disinformation “. “ Let us not allow him or anyone else to deceive us. It is not and never has been a question of Russia’s security “, he added. “ This is Mr. Putin’s imperial project to wipe Ukraine off the map.e,” he estimated.
It was the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine that the Russian minister participated in the same event as his Ukrainian counterpart.
Paralysis of the OSCE
Founded in 1975, the organization has 57 members and was created in an attempt to ease tensions between East and West during the Cold War. But Russia regularly accuses him of being in the service of NATO and the European Union. She therefore vetoed several major decisions requiring consensus. The positions of secretary general and three other senior officials of the organization have been vacant since September, due to lack of agreement on their successors.
The ministers meeting in Malta must also agree on the name of the person who will succeed the outgoing secretary general, the German Helga Maria Schmid, appointed in December 2020 for a three-year term, and extended until September . They will also have to agree on the country that will chair the OSCE in 2026 and 2027.
Also readSergei Lavrov, in Europe for an OSCE meeting, a first since the invasion of Ukraine