The Department of Information has issued a right of reply on behalf of the government in response to the Malta Independent's editorial, which questioned whether Malta is doing enough to sanction Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The right of reply may be found in full below:

Reference is made to the Editorial of ‘The Malta Independent’ on page 7, ‘Is Malta doing enough to sanction Russia?’, dated 18 April 2022. 

The European Union responded with a comprehensive fifth package of restrictive measures in response to the atrocities committed in Bucha since the situation in Ukraine demands a coordinated and firm response. It is to be noted that EU legal acts are directly applicable in Malta through the National Interest (Enabling Powers) Act. Thus, any sanctions which have been adopted by the European Union enter into force in Malta upon publication by the European Union. 

Malta is fully committed to implementing all EU restrictive measures, in tandem with the previously adopted packages and is ensuring that all economic operators are well aware and are fully adhering the restrictive measures in place, in order to achieve the desired effect.

 Sanctions implementation falls within the competence of the Malta Sanctions Monitoring Board. In this regard, the Sanctions Monitoring Board has undertaken an extensive exercise to identify and freeze any assets of listed individuals and entities which are located within the Maltese territory. Companies having links to designated individuals or entities were identified and have been frozen accordingly. Furthermore, Malta has also been instrumental in the freezing of movable assets in other EU jurisdictions. 

The Sanctions Monitoring Board continues to publish several guidance note of which some are sector specific to help Maltese economic operators since these are bound by the various restrictive measures which have been imposed. The Sanctions Monitoring Board has issued four guidance notes, one relating to the general restrictive measures imposed on Russia in view of the situation in Ukraine and three other sector specific guidance notes, relating to the ban on Russian-flagged vessels to enter into European Union ports, crypto-assets and cryptocurrencies as well as the restrictions relating to money deposits. Accordingly, these may be viewed on the website of the Board https://foreign.gov.mt/en/Government/SMB/Pages/Guidance-Notes.aspx