Malta has revoked a visa granted to Russian foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, saying three EU member states refused to agree to exempt her from a travel ban.

Zakharova was due to accompany Russian foreign affairs minister Sergey Lavrov to Malta to attend a two-day OSCE ministerial council meeting that begins on Thursday.

But her visa approval was withdrawn after three EU Member States raised objections, a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson told Times of Malta.

News of the decision was first revealed by Russia’s foreign affairs ministry, which said Malta informed Zakharova that it was revoking her visa due to “circumstances outside our control”. It described the decision as “unprecedented”.

Baltic objections

Unlike Lavrov, who is not subject to any sanctions, Zakharova is cited on sanctions lists and is subject to an EU travel ban.

A ministry spokesperson said that Zakharova therefore needed a special exemption which was "subject to the consideration of EU member states" to be granted permission to enter Malta, which is part of the EU's Schengen zone. 

While that exemption has been used in the past without issue, that was not the case this time. 

Three countries raised objections to Zakharova, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said, "just as Russia last year objected to a particular country assuming the OSCE Chairmanship".

The ministry did not cite the three countries which objected to Zakharova flying to Malta, but sources told Times of Malta that they were Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Estonia was due to assume the chairmanship of the OSCE last year but was frozen out of that role by Russia. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Lithuania and Latvia said their ministers would not be attending the Malta summit, in a sign of protest against Lavrov’s attendance. Both countries will send delegations led by lower-ranking representatives. 

Poland, which refused to issue Lavrov with a visa when it chaired the OSCE in 2022, has also said it is objecting to the Russian minister's presence in Malta. 

The Malta summit will be Lavrov’s first trip to an EU member state since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Zakharova, his lead spokesperson, is an experienced diplomat in her own right and makes regular appearances on Russian political talk shows. 

Aside from being sanctioned in the EU, she is the subject of sanctions in the US, UK, New Zealand, Switzerland, Austria and Canada. 

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