Maltese Minister Meets With Russian Cultural Centre Director And Appeals For Social Peace
Foreign Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo held a meeting with the director of the Russian Centre for Culture and Science in Valletta yesterday and appealed for peace between different communities to prevail.
Following his meeting with Irina Pereverzeva, Bartolo said the two spoke about the importance of social peace between Maltese, Russians and Ukrainians who live in the country.
“There are many mixed families and many Maltese, Russians and Ukrainians are friends with each other, and we shouldn’t allow any kind of hatred or violence to enter between us,” he said.
“We should treat everyone as human beings and live together for everyone’s sake.”
Bartolo’s meeting with Pereverzeva comes amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which shocked the world and prompted several countries, including Malta, to introduce a raft of sanctions against Russia.
Malta also joined 37 other countries in referring reports of Russian atrocities in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court, the largest referral in the history of the ICC.
However, the government has also urged the world not to “demonise” all Russians and turn Russia into some kind of ‘pariah state’.
“We must be very careful. The Russians aren’t Putin and demonising the whole of Russia and including all Russians in the category as though they are in Putin’s circle and responsible for what is going on would not only be a political mistake but a factual error too,” Bartolo said during a recent interview with Lovin Malta.
The Russian Centre for Culture and Science was yesterday targeted by protestors, who stuck posters by its entry denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal.
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