Malta withdrew the visa of the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson due to “objections” from third countries

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Zakharova is subject to sanctions that prevent her from entering the EU but for which Malta had decided to make an exception

Dec. 5 () –

The Maltese authorities reported this Thursday that they had issued a visa for the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zajarova, to attend, together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, the meeting of the Organization for Security and Justice. Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), but was later withdrawn due to “objections from some countries.”

This was confirmed by the Maltese ambassador in Moscow, Carmelo Inguanez, in statements to the RTVI television channel, where he recalled that Lavrov is under sanctions from the European Union, but is not incapable of traveling to community territory; while in the case of Zajarova she is subject to a sanction that prohibits her from entering EU territory.

At this point Inguanez has detailed that Malta, as acting president of the OSCE, had the right to request an exemption from the sanction, and that is why it issued the visa to Zajarova. At this time, “some EU Member States” expressed their disagreement with this exemption. Therefore, the Maltese authorities proceeded to withdraw the diplomatic spokesperson’s visa.

Asked directly about the countries that expressed their disagreement with the measure, Inguanez refused to go into details and only pointed out that there were “several countries” that complained. Furthermore, the ambassador has stressed that Zajarova should not be surprised by this decision, since she must be aware that sanctions at the community level weigh on her.

Lavrov has indeed participated in the OSCE meeting hosted by Malta, an event that marks the first visit of the head of Russian diplomacy to a European Union country since the start of the military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The authorities The Russians denounced the day before that Malta had canceled Zakharova’s visa in what they considered “an unprecedented case.”