The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andriy Sybiha, walked out of the hall of the OSCE plenary sessions on Thursday, December 5, just before the speech by Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov. The Ukrainian diplomat referred to his "colleague" as a war criminal. Following Sybiha, several other foreign ministers and politicians also left the hall.
This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The moment was captured on video.
The footage released by the Ministry shows that following Andriy Sybiha, the foreign ministers of Poland and the Czech Republic, Radoslaw Sikorski and Jan Lipavsky, also exited the hall. They had previously stated that they would not listen to Lavrov's speech during the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting.
"The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andriy Sybiha, left the hall of the OSCE plenary sessions before the Russian minister's speech. Prior to this, at the end of his address, he called him a war criminal," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.
On December 4 and 5, the 31st annual meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council is taking place in Malta. Russia is also participating in it.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov personally traveled to Malta to attend this meeting, despite being under EU sanctions. This is his first trip to an EU member state since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to media reports, Lavrov will participate in a lunch on the first day of the OSCE meeting but will not attend the dinner, which will focus on Russian aggression against Ukraine.