At a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Malta, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov a “war criminal”. In his speech, Lavrov blamed the West for a new Cold War, warning that it could escalate into the conflict between the East and the West, TASR informs about it according to the report of the DPA agency.
The right to exist
“When the Russians say they want peace, they are lying. Ukraine continues to fight for its right to exist. And the Russian war criminal at this table must know this: Ukraine will get this right and justice will prevail,” declared Sybiha at the OSCE plenary session.
The Ukrainian minister claimed that Russia is not a partner, but “the biggest threat to our common security”. He described Moscow’s participation in the OSCE as a threat to cooperation in Europe.
On the 30th anniversary of the Budapest Memorandum, Sybiha also condemned the failure of this agreement to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and called on the world community to take decisive measures against Russian aggression.
According to the Russian agency RIA Novosti, Lavrov expressed his belief that the West is behind “the reincarnation of the Cold War, only now with a much greater risk of transitioning into a hot war”. According to him, there is “no place for cooperation or security” in the OSCE.
Interests collide
“It seems that in the current conditions of profound changes in the balance of world power, the OSCE could become one of the points where the interests of all members of the European space meet. However, no one in this room would have thought that he would use it for this purpose,” Lavrov said, accusing NATO and European Union member states of pushing the organization out of political processes.
During Lavrov’s speech, according to the PAP agency, representatives of Poland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states left the room. Upon his arrival in Malta, the head of Polish diplomacy, Radoslaw Sikorski, declared that Lavrov had come to the OSCE to “lie” about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Among those who remained in the hall was US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The Russian diplomat met Hungarian Foreign Minister Pétr Szijjárt on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting in Malta. The meeting took place in a closed format, RIA Novosti reported. According to her, this was their second meeting in the last week. The last time they held talks was on December 2 in Moscow.
