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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traded accusations over the war in Ukraine conflict during a ministerial meeting in Malta.
Some background for you: The 31st Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ministerial meeting in Malta was geared toward addressing international security concerns, with a particular focus on the ongoing war in Ukraine and its broader implications. The meeting brought together top diplomats from OSCE member states, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, alongside representatives from European nations such as Poland and Estonia. It marked Lavrov’s first visit to an EU member country since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This was one of the rare moments where Lavrov and Blinken addressed the same forum; their last face-to-face interaction occurred earlier in 2023 during the G20 summit in India.
Here’s what Secretary Blinken said: While speaking at the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken directly countered Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s accusations, placing the blame for escalation on Russia. He said, “Let’s talk about escalation. Let’s talk about the introduction of North Korean forces into Europe. Let’s talk about the use of intermediate-range ballistic missiles to attack Ukraine. Let’s talk about lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons by Russia. Let’s talk about the ongoing assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, including its nuclear transmission grid, which poses a grave threat to every single country in this room. That is escalation.”
Here’s what Foreign Minster Lavrov said: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov used his speech at the meeting to accuse the West of provoking tensions and escalating the war in Ukraine. He said, “After the Afghan disgrace, there was a need for a new common enemy. The result is the reincarnation of the Cold War, but now with the far greater risk of its escalation into the hot phase.” He claimed that the United States’ actions were motivated by a desire to “return NATO to the political spotlight” and said that Western support for Ukraine was fueling risks of a larger war.
This all comes as the war in Ukraine grinds on with Russian forces making small but strategically significant territorial advances in the eastern and southern regions of the country. Despite intense Ukrainian resistance, Russian officials have signaled that it sees no path for negotiations, tying any potential talks to its battlefield successes and portraying Ukraine as unserious for diplomacy.
