Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago 80 km (50 mi) south of Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. The two official languages are Maltese and English. The country's capital is Valletta, which is the smallest capital city in the EU by both area and population. It was also the first World Heritage City in Europe to become a European Capital of Culture in 2018.
The visit marked Lavrov’s first visit to an EU member country since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 but the foreign..
