Malta may host Russian foreign minister Lavrov for December OSCE council meeting

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov could be visiting Malta in December when the country hosts the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council. 

The OSCE is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organisation comprising member states from Europe, North America, and Asia which aims for security in the politico-military, economic and environmental, and the human dimensions. Malta has been a member of the organisation since 1973. 

Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ian Borg, currently occupies the rotating office of chairperson for 2024 after Russia objected to NATO ally Estonia holding the office. The OSCE Chairpersonship is an office which is held for one calendar year by the State designated for the position by a decision of the OSCE Ministerial Council. 

According to a statement issued by the Russian government in September, Lavrov had held a brief meeting with Borg on the sidelines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, at Borg’s request, where the two ministers discussed “topical issues on the organisation’s agenda” and “touched upon some aspects of Russia-Malta relations.”

In February, 2022, the European Union, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia had placed Lavrov under personal economic sanctions for his role in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

But unlike the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, who is the subject of an active international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, Lavrov is free to - and often does - travel as part of his official duties.

The Russian foreign minister had condemned the warrant for Putin’s arrest as ‘scandalous,’ while describing the ICC as a biased ‘pseudo court’ which only served as “an obedient tool in the hands of the Anglo-Saxons.”