OSCE foreign ministers meeting: Lavrov wants to enter the EU despite sanctions

According to a media report, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wants to take part in a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on the island of Malta in December. This is reported by the daily newspaper “Vedomosti”, citing Foreign Office spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

It would be the first time since the beginning of the war that the top Russian diplomat would travel to an EU country. The European Union imposed sanctions on Lavrov as well as on Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in February 2022 because of the war of aggression against Ukraine.

Lavrov was last in an EU country in December 2021, also at a meeting of OSCE foreign ministers. When the OSCE met in Lodz, Poland, in December 2022, Warsaw refused Lavrov entry, even though the EU sanctions do not mean an entry ban.

Unlike several other European institutions such as the Council of Europe, Russia has not withdrawn from the OSCE. Moscow sees the organization as a platform to spread its own positions on the war there.

Moscow skeptical about the prospects of Turkish mediation

In a newspaper interview, Lavrov criticized Turkey for supplying weapons to Ukraine. Those weapons killed Russian soldiers and civilians, he said.

Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression for more than two and a half years and has also shelled Russian territory. However, the damage caused in Russia and the number of victims are disproportionate to the destruction caused by Moscow.