On February 24, 2022, as Russian soldiers marched into Ukraine, Prime Minister Robert Abela said that international law “must be protected” but prefaced that message by saying “peace and neutrality are at the heart of our foreign policy.”

There was no such disclaimer when Ian Borg addressed the UN Security Council exactly one year later.

Russia’s “brutal unprovoked and unjustified war” was a “stain on the very principles we here are bound to uphold”, the Foreign Affairs Minister told the world’s biggest powers. 

It has been a significant shift in tone, and one which Borg believes has gone largely unnoticed.

“Our foreign policy has changed a lot in the past year,” he muses.

“Perhaps it’s changed without us even realising it.”

So too has his job.

The Dingli-bred politician was more accustomed to weathering barbs from environmental activists as infrastructure minister. Now, he is parrying criticism from the Kremlin on Malta’s behalf.

He has had to learn quickly.

Malta joined the Security Council as a non-permanent member in January and assumed its rotating presidency one month later. Coordinating the agenda of the world’s most powerful multilateral body is challenging at any point. Doing so at a time when a world power is waging war on European soil just amps up the challenge.

Malta’s stronger language has, of course, been also informed by credible reports of butchered civilians, abducted children and bombed schools and hospitals in Ukraine. 

“We have not shied away from speaking up. We’ve had no problem with saying, plain and clear, that, in this war, there is one aggressor and one victim,” Borg says.

“We have remained united, as a people and as a parliament.”

Even away from local shores, Maltese politicians have been making their voices heard. European Parliament president Roberta Metsola, Borg notes, was the first top EU official to visit Kyiv after the invasion.

Ukraine has been appreciative of Malta’s efforts – the country’s foreign affairs minister praised Malta and Borg personally for the country’s stance – while Russia has been decidedly less impressed.

Borg says it is Kyiv’s reaction that interests him.

“They [Ukrainians] know we have stuck our necks out for them, within the limits of our abilities,” he says.

Malta is hardly the only country to have adapted its foreign policy in response to Russian aggression: two other EU member states, Finland and Sweden, made the dramatic decision of ditching neutrality altogether and, instead, seek NATO membership.

It’s been a “night and day” change, Borg acknowledges. “They were like us but, when they started to feel the heat, their citizens decided otherwise. In a matter of hours, they switched positions they had held for decades.”

Will Malta go down the same path? Is the country’s neutrality now up for discussion?

Borg tempers that suggestion.

The Maltese people, he argues, still derive a sense of safety from neutrality and “legislators always form their positions based on the feelings of the people they represent”.

“The reality is that people are most concerned about things which impact them directly,” the minister believes.

Bombs falling on Ukrainian soil cannot be heard from Malta but the drums of war may be closer than many people realise. Italy’s naval chief noted last week that Russia’s growing naval presence in the Mediterranean is increasing tensions in the region.

“What he said is no surprise, nor is it incorrect. But, in Malta, there is a sense of optimism that things are far away [from us],” Borg says.

“I think we’re part of a wider world. And the value of chairing the Security Council is that it allows us to work closer with larger countries that have more intelligence that they can share with us.”

Still, circumstances could force Malta into changing its foreign policy stances. It’s something Borg says he cannot exclude.

“If we change, I hope that it’s because we have decided to do that as a people. Not because the heat is rising.”

In the meantime, Malta continues to hold informal meetings with the EU’s two other neutral member states, Austria and Ireland, to compare notes and discuss their foreign policy stances, Borg says.

The minister dismisses any suggestion of allowing the EU to pass sanctions measures without requiring unanimity among member states.

He also argues that when Malta has pushed back against EU sanctions plans it has done so for good reason.

The minister cites Maltese opposition to a plan to ban EU-flagged ships from carrying Russian oil as a case in point.

All that does, he argues, is push ships to re-flag under a flag state outside the EU.

“300 ships drop their Malta registration and switch to a Panamanian flag. What do you do then? The moment a ship exits your register, you have no more leverage over them.”

In the minister’s view, the solution is to impose worldwide controls that would also apply to non-EU flag states.

As for whether Russian leadership should be made to face justice before a special war tribunal or the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Borg is largely indifferent.

“That’s a legalistic issue,” he says.

“What is clear is that you cannot wake up one morning and decide to attack your neighbour. We have long-standing territorial disputes with Italy and Libya over maritime boundaries. However, none of us just decides to start killing people.

“People are made to appear before a tribunal for minor traffic contraventions. How can you have those who kill thousands not face justice?

“Those committing these atrocities must face justice.” 

 Bertrand Borg reported from New York. The trip was paid for by the Foreign Affairs Ministry.