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Top Russian diplomat arrives in Malta to participate in OSCE Ministerial Council

The Ministerial Council, which is the OSCE's principal decision-making body, traditionally convenes in the first ten days of December

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

VALLETTA /Malta/, December 5. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Malta’s capital Valletta to take part in the two-day Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council, a TASS correspondent reported.

It was the top Russian diplomat’s first visit to a European Union member country since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine.

The plane spent about 6.5 hours in the air, flying through the airspace of Turkey and along the coastline of Egypt and Libya.

The Ministerial Council, which is the OSCE's principal decision-making body, traditionally convenes in the first ten days of December.

Lavrov is expected to hold a series of bilateral meetings with his colleagues on the sidelines of the event.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the Russian delegation would draw attention to visa problems that its OSCE delegates are facing.

In the latest incident of this kind, the already issued visa of Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was canceled by Malta just as the Russian delegation was about to board a flight from Moscow.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov

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