Malta revokes Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova’s visa ahead of OSCE meeting

The Maltese authorities have reportedly revoked the visa of Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova ahead of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting scheduled for December 5–6 in Valletta.

“The annulment of an already issued visa by the Maltese Chairmanship on the eve of the event, citing ‘circumstances beyond their control,’ is unprecedented,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The agency said that during the event, the rest of its delegation will devote “special attention” to the decision to revoke Zakharova’s visa. Additionally, it accused “a number of Western countries” of exploiting the OSCE platform “for their own interests.”

Zakharova attributed Malta’s decision to “the scheming of the Western hydra.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also plans to visit Malta to for the OSCE meeting. The trip will mark his first visit to an E.U. country since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. Lavrov, like Zakharova, is subject to sanctions from the E.U., the U.S., and the U.K.