Malta has attracted praise from Ukraine and angry accusations from Russia, following a heated discussion at the United Nations Security Council on Friday.
The contrasting reactions came after Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg allowed Ukraine to address the UN Security Council before council members, during a discussion timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion into the country.
Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the world media that Malta, as president of the Security Council, had led the debate “in a very capable way.”
“I would like to commend the Maltese presidency and Ian [Borg] personally for his principled position,” Kuleba said on the fringes of the UN meeting.
He went on to praise Borg, saying he had demonstrated “character and stamina”.
“You and your diplomacy has helped this presidency in a very capable way and I appreciate your efforts today to hold this session of the security council,” he told Borg at UN headquarters in New York.
Angry Russia
Borg’s efforts drew a very different reaction from Russia, however.
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, accused Borg and Malta of giving Ukraine privileges which had not been afforded to other countries.
“The problems of the rest of the world are of no interest to you,” Nebenzya charged, as he listed a number of UN Security Council meetings in which council members spoke before countries with a direct interest in the debate.
“Apparently, as a member of the “golden billion” you openly give preference to Ukraine because Ukraine is your geopolitical project,” Nebenzya told Borg.
The ‘golden billion’ is a conspiracy theory promoted by the Kremlin which alleges that a secret cabal controls the world to enrich the one billion richest people on the planet.
Malta, Russia added, was allowing its national interest to take precedence over its obligations as president of the Security Council.
Russia's representative also allowed himself a note of condescension.
"There are rules in the Council that were established long before Malta became a member," he told the Maltese minister.
Despite Russia’s protestations, Malta stuck to its guns and allowed Ukraine’s minister Kuleba to speak before council members.
It did so on the strength of a procedural note that states that “when non-members are invited to speak to the Security Council, those who have a direct interest in the outcome of the matter under consideration may speak prior to Council members, if appropriate.”
There are precedents of this having happened – including instances when non-members spoke before Security Council members at Russia’s own request.
Just a few weeks back, Russia itself asked for representatives of Syria and Turkey to speak first at an extraordinary meeting to discuss the humanitarian situation in Syria following a massive earthquake there.
Furthermore, foreign ministers of Serbia and Kosovo always address the Council before members do at briefings concerning a UN peacekeeping mission in those countries.
Russian complaints about the Maltese position continued after the UN meeting concluded, with its UN representation tweeting that the Maltese presidency had demonstrated “its explicit neglect of UNSC’s rules & practices by placing its national position & the position of the European Union above its responsibilities as President of the Council.”
The Security Council meeting saw almost universal condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and humanitarian atrocities committed in the course of that war, and followed in the vein of a General Assembly resolution which saw UN member states overwhelmingly vote to demand that Russia cease hostilities, withdraw its troops and ensure "lasting peace" in Ukraine.
Bertrand Borg reported from New York. The trip was sponsored by the Foreign Affairs Ministry.