Vella in Kiev, Ashton sends political director to OSCE

The EU foreign service, most of the EU's larger member states and the United States are not sending top people to an OSCE meeting in Kiev on Thursday and Friday.

A spokeswoman for the EU foreign service chief, Catherine Ashton, said her political director, Helga Schmid, will go in her place.

France, Germany, the UK and Poland, whose foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, helped to mastermind the recently defunct EU-Ukraine treaty, are planning to send deputies. US secretary of state John Kerry will also skip the meeting.

Her decision to skip Kiev has nothing to do with the Ukrainian crisis, her spokesperson said. "The high representative is meeting with Serbian and Kosovar leaders in Brussels. There is very little time, because she needs to file a report on progress in the EU-facilitated dialogue [on Kosovo-Serb relations] for a General Affairs Council in two weeks' time."

Kerry's decision is a deliberate snub, however. He was due to go to Kiev, but is now going to Moldova instead.

Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella is attending the OSCE ministerial meeting in Kiev on Thursday and Friday, where he is expected to reaffirm Malta's commitment to enhance security and stability within the organisation, particularly in relation to the Mediterranean region.

People in Ukraine are protesting at their government's decision to spurn closer trade ties with the European Union, under pressure from Russia. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is expected in Malta in the coming days.

The OSCE will focus on the work carried out by the organisation over the past year, which was led by the Ukrainian chairmanship, and chart future action on matters from freedom of the media to human trafficking to border management issues.

Malta will be chairing this forum as of 23 January, overseeing issues related to the politico-military security matters. Vella is accompanied by the Permanent Representative of Malta to the OSCE, Ambassador Keith Azzopardi, as well as ministry officials.

Opposition MPs in the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday did not get enough votes to call a motion of no confidence. Yanukovych's Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, told them he was sorry about police beatings, but he also threatened further use of truncheons and tear gas. "We extended our hand to you... If we meet with a fist, I'm telling you - we've got enough forces," he said.