Foreign Minister of Poland, Radosław Sikorski, told journalists upon entering the OSCE Ministerial Council in Malta that he would not listen to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov‘s speech. “I will not listen to lies,” he declared. Sikorski further emphasised that he would not sit at the same table with the Russian Minister. He added, “Lavrov comes here to spread lies about the Russian invasion and what Russia is doing in Ukraine. I refuse to listen to these lies.”
“Let us remember the beginnings of the OSCE. They date back to the Helsinki process in the 1970s during the Cold War, when the communist bloc wanted to confirm the immutability of borders in Europe and the West wanted respect for human rights,” the minister said. “Today, Russia does not respect either the borders in Europe or human rights,” he noted. “Russia must leave first Ukraine, and only then will this organisation make sense,” he added.
On December 2, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski said the invitation extended to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a meeting of OSCE foreign ministers in Malta was a mistake.
Earlier, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said he would leave the room during Lavrov’s speech.
“I do not intend to listen to poisoned lies”.
The annual meeting will also feature Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. This will be Lavrov’s first visit to an EU country since the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
