Robert Abela is making a mess on Ukraine, as in much else. His position keeps changing. On February 3, 2025, Abela declared Malta should look at “increasing its spending on defence to meet today’s reality”. On March 6, he contradicted himself: “Increased defence spending will only serve to disrupt peace.”
One minute he wants to spend more on defence, the next he’s berating his EU colleagues for deciding to do so. No wonder Abela is considered a joke among his EU colleagues.
In February 2022, when Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, Abela declared: “Malta shares the EU’s view on the situation in Ukraine.” Now he’s busy denigrating his fellow EU leaders: “Europe is pushing the weapons industry.” He cast doubt on Europe’s intentions: “Does the EU truly want a ceasefire and peace?” He mocked European economies: “Europe is currently focused on strengthening its economy by increasing weapons and arms.”
In February 2022, Abela “reiterated Malta’s strong support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Now he’s demanding Ukraine give up its territory and “compromise”. He’s spouting Putin’s rhetoric that “Ukraine is not going to win this war”. Abela has been supporting Russia’s war effort all along.
EU leaders are underestimating the damage Abela is doing to European efforts to defy Putin’s tyranny. They treat Abela as a joke at their own peril. Abela has something to do with Putin’s successes on the front.
Abela sold Maltese passports to key Putin allies. Over one-fourth of all passports were sold to Russians. Abela gave hundreds of Russians unrestricted access to the EU. Many of them were directly linked to Putin. Dr Mark Kurster, whose family acquired Maltese citizenship, is part of Putin’s inner circle and linked to the Troika Laundromat. Andrey Mikhaylovich Turba also acquired a Maltese passport. He’s director of Transneft, a Russian company transporting over 80% of Russia’s oil. His company is under EU sanctions, yet, Abela gave him a Maltese passport and easy access to Europe.
Abela declared “more weapons won’t end the Ukraine war”. Yet, he’s provided Transneft’s boss with EU access, allowing him to directly fund Putin’s lethal weapons that hammer Ukrainian cities every night. Russia oil is still paying for Putin’s war.
When Putin unleashed his war on Ukraine in 2022, Abela refused to terminate passport sales to Russians. He saw it as a business opportunity. He didn’t care that selling passports to Putin’s friends endangered Europe and sustained Putin’s war. Abela argued that “the Individual Investor Programme is robust and operates strong due diligence policies”. How could due diligence be conducted on citizens of Russia, a country at war?
Abela insisted he’d keep selling passports to Russians: “Our rejection rate is high – that proves how robust our programme is.” “Besides,” he added, “it was thanks to those funds that we could help our businesses and families during the pandemic, not to mention donations to Puttinu Cares.” Abela urged the press not to harm the scheme and the country to “unite in preserving what is beneficial”. Those passport sales may have been beneficial to Malta’s coffers but not to European security or Ukraine’s survival.
A tiny defenceless country like ours cannot afford to antagonise its allies- Kevin Cassar
It took massive EU pressure before Abela relented and “temporarily suspended” passport sales to Russians. Reuters reported that “the agency responsible for processing requests” admitted “the necessary checks on prospective buyers could not be done”. European Commissioner Vera Jourova previously commented that she was “especially alarmed” due to “the high prevalence of wealthy and influential Russians purchasing citizenship and access to the EU. We want the states not to enable criminals to come to Europe”.
While passport sales were reluctantly paused, Abela fought off efforts to ban EU-flagged vessels from transporting Russian oil – the main revenue for Putin’s military. Volodymyr Zelensky himself appealed to Abela to stop Malta-registered ships from funding Russia’s war machine. Abela ignored him. Abela wanted to make money off selling passports to Putin’s friends and off transporting oil for Putin.
“I categorically exclude that our country will spend money on weapons,” the virtue-signalling Abela pompously announced, “an increase in military funding will probably escalate tensions.” What escalated tensions is Putin’s relentless bombing of Ukrainian schools, hospitals, power stations, railways and apartment blocks. Abela’s actions ensure Putin has enough lethal weapons to pummel Ukraine.
“I don’t believe investment in weapons can result in an end to the war,” Abela stated. Abela has no clue. The sad reality is that weapons end wars. World War II ended because of massive investment in military equipment by Allied countries. Japan surrendered after America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Appeasement never works with tyrants. Abela insisted the EU should adopt Malta’s “Peace first” principle. Abela has never heard of Neville Chamberlain. He probably thinks he’s some influencer or a Love Island contestant. Chamberlain traded Czechosolvakia’s Sudetenland for “peace in our time” with Hitler. Hitler claimed he had “no more territorial demands to make”. Six months later he took the whole of Czechoslovakia, and, a year later, he invaded Poland, triggering World War II. Chamberlain’s diplomacy didn’t end wars, it started WWII. Chamberlain’s “peace in our time” didn’t stop Hitler. American and British bombs did.
Chamberlain wasn’t daft. Even as he signed the Munich agreement, he ordered a massive increase in military spending. That saved Britain. Without Spitfires to repel the Luftwaffe’s waves of attacks, Hitler would have taken Britain. Malta would have suffered the same fate without anti-aircraft guns and British warplanes. It wasn’t Abela’s pie-in-the-sky “peace first” principle that saved us then. It won’t save us now either.
Abela doesn’t want Malta’s sons and daughters to fight the “wars of others”. But he expects the sons and daughters of others, our European allies, to fight our war when we need them. That’s not how to make allies, that’s just audacious idiocy that elicits contempt. A tiny defenceless country like ours cannot afford to antagonise its allies.
Abela is no joke. He’s a threat to our security and to European security. He’s parroting Putin’s propaganda that Ukraine can’t win and berating European defence efforts. He’s playing Putin’s poodle, which begs the question: Why?
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.