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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov clashed indirectly with Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the annual OSCE security meeting on Thursday, accusing the West of risking an escalation of the war in Ukraine, but walked away before Mr Blinken and ministers from outside of other countries could answer.
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 motivated by a desire to "bring NATO back into the political spotlight." "After the shame in Afghanistan, there was a need for a new common enemy," Mr Lavrov said during his first stop in an EU country since the start of Russia's full-scale offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.
"The result of this is the reincarnation of the Cold War, but now with the 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 hear his counterparts' speeches others.
"Let's talk about escalation," Secretary Blinken said, citing North Korea's deployment of forces to Europe, the use of an intermediate-range ballistic missile to attack Ukraine, Russia's decision to lower the threshold for the use of weapons nuclear weapons and Moscow's attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
"Mr. Lavrov spoke about the sovereign right of each member state to make its own choices," said Secretary Blinken. "This is 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 Andrii Sybiha, who was the first to speak, left the hall as Mr Lavrov prepared 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."
It was Mr Lavrov's first visit to an EU member state since the start of Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine 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 the meeting.
Malta's foreign ministry said three OSCE member states had objected to the visa extension for Ms Zakharova, who is on a list of people banned from traveling to the EU. 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 refused 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 last NATO meeting as a representative of President Biden's administration, whose term ends on January 20. Ukraine's 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 arrested journalists. / VOA
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