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"You are reviving the Cold War," Lavrov and Blinken "clash" at the OSCE meeting in Malta

2024-12-06 09:09:52Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
"You are reviving the Cold War," Lavrov and Blinken "clash"
Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov indirectly clashed with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday at the annual OSCE security meeting, accusing the West of risking an escalation of the war in Ukraine, but left before Mr. Blinken and other foreign ministers could respond.

Speaking at the ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Malta, Lavrov accused the West of reviving the Cold War and provoking a direct conflict with Russia.

He said the United States' actions were driven by a desire to "return NATO to the political spotlight." "After the disgrace in Afghanistan, there was a need for a new common enemy," Mr. Lavrov said during his first stop in an EU country since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"The result of this is the reincarnation of the Cold War, but now with a much greater risk of its escalation into the hot phase."

Secretary Blinken, who spoke after Lavrov left the meeting room, responded by blaming Russia for escalating the situation in the region, noting that the Russian foreign minister, the fourth speaker at the meeting, did not stay to listen to the speeches of his other counterparts.

“Let’s talk about escalation,” Secretary Blinken said, citing North Korea’s deployment of forces in Europe, its use of an intermediate-range ballistic missile to attack Ukraine, Russia’s decision to lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, and Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

“Mr. Lavrov talked about the sovereign right of each member state to make its own choices,” Secretary Blinken said. “That’s exactly what this is about: the sovereign right of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people to make their own choices about the future, not to have those choices made by Moscow.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, who was the first to speak, left the room as Mr. Lavrov was preparing to speak. He was joined by the foreign ministers of Poland and Estonia.

Before leaving the room, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov a "war criminal."

"Ukraine continues to fight for its right to exist. And the Russian war criminal at this table (Lavrov) should know this: Ukraine will succeed and justice will prevail."

This was Mr. Lavrov's first visit to an EU member state since Russia's large-scale attack on Ukraine began in February 2022. Lavrov's participation in forums with senior Western officials has been relatively rare, although he recently attended the United Nations General Assembly and the G20 summit in Brazil.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Malta had granted her a visa to accompany Lavrov to this meeting.

Malta's foreign ministry said three OSCE member states had opposed extending the visa for Ms Zakharova, who is on an EU travel ban list. Mr Lavrov is also subject to EU sanctions but does not face a travel ban.

Mr. Lavrov attended an OSCE meeting last year in Skopje, North Macedonia, but Poland denied him a visa in 2022 due to the start of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Secretary Blinken traveled to Malta from Brussels, where he attended his final NATO meeting as a representative of President Biden's administration, whose term ends on January 20.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister was also present, as Ukraine boycotted last year's meeting due to Mr. Lavrov's participation.

Reporters Without Borders called on the OSCE to work for the release of 38 journalists detained by Russia, including 19 Ukrainians detained in territories illegally occupied by Moscow. The organization Reporters Without Borders said in a statement that Russia is the fifth country in the world in terms of the number of journalists detained.


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