Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed Lavrov plans to make the trip to Vedomosti, while the Maltese Embassy in Russia said invitations to the December 5-6 meeting “will be sent to all OSCE delegations in good time”.

The last time Lavrov visited an EU country was a trip to Stockholm for an OSCE meeting in December 2021, according to the Russian foreign ministry.

In 2023, Lavrov traveled to North Macedonia for an OSCE ministerialafter Bulgaria gave permission for his plane to cross its airspace en route to Skopje. The move drew criticism from Kiev, with several countries including Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania choosing to boycott the meeting regarding Lavrov’s participation.