VALLETTA, Malta — (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov clashed Thursday indirectly with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at an annual security meeting, accusing the West of risking escalation over Ukraine but walking out before Blinken and other speakers could respond.
Speaking at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ministerial meeting in Malta, Lavrov accused the West of reviving the Cold War and provoking a direct conflict with Russia.
He said the U.S. actions were driven by a desire to “return NATO to the political spotlight.” “After the Afghan disgrace, there was a need for a new common enemy,” Lavrov said during his first stop in an EU nation since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“The result is the reincarnation of the Cold War, but now with the far greater risk of its escalation into the hot phase.”
Blinken, who spoke after Lavrov left the room, put the blame for escalation in the region back on Russia, noting that the Russian foreign minister, the fourth speaker, did not stick around to listen to other speakers.
"Let’s talk about escalation,'' Blinken said, citing the deployment of North Korean forces in Europe, the use of an intermediate-range ballistic missile to attack Ukraine, Russia's move to lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, and attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
“Mr. Lavrov spoke about the sovereign right of every member-state to make their own choices,'' 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 in and by Moscow."
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who was the first to address the panel, walked out as Lavrov took the podium, along with the foreign ministers of Poland and Estonia.
Before leaving the podium, Ukraine’s 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.”
The visit marked Lavrov's first visit to an EU member nation since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It has been relatively rare for Lavrov to attend forums involving senior Western officials, although he recently took part in the United Nations General Assembly and the G20 summit in Brazil.
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on her message app that Malta had annulled her visa to accompany Lavrov.
The Maltese foreign affairs office said that three OSCE member countries had objected to extending the visa to Zakharova, who is under a travel ban. Lavrov is subject to EU sanctions, but faces no travel ban.
Lavrov attended the event last year in Skopje, North Macedonia, but Poland denied him a visa the previous year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Blinken traveled to Malta from Brussels, where he attended what was likely to be his last NATO meeting of the outgoing Biden administration. Ukraine's foreign minister was also attending, after Ukraine boycotted last year over Lavrov's attendance.
Reporters Without Borders called on the OSCE to release 38 journalists detained by Russia, including 19 Ukrainians arrested in illegally occupied territories. It said in a statement that Russia is the world’s fifth-largest jailer of journalists.