Russia criticizes OSCE head, Maltese chairmanship for ‘taking Ukraine’s side’

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russia on Wednesday criticized the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its current Maltese chairmanship for “taking Ukraine’s side.”

“Malta continues the predecessors' course of one-sided and biased assessments of the situation in Ukraine. The OSCE Secretary General has blatantly taken the side of the criminal regime in Kiev, without a word of condemnation of the barbaric missile attacks in Belgorod, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians, including children,” Moscow’s permanent mission in the OSCE said in a statement on Tuesday.

It added Malta and the OSCE Secretariat are “continuing their course towards the forced collapse of the Organization's platform, flouting their mandates.”

Earlier, Ian Borg, the 57-member organization's new chairperson, who is also Malta’s foreign minister, and OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid had criticized Russian air attacks on Ukraine.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have exchanged accusations over airstrikes against each other that intensified since Friday.

President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said his country will not let “a single crime of this kind” go unpunished following a raid on the Russian city of Belgorod, a day after Kyiv said Moscow launched missiles and drones on Ukrainian cities.

Russia launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine in February 2022. The West, since then, has supported Kyiv through economic, military and humanitarian means.