Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov plans to visit Malta next month to attend a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, according to Russian media quoted by Politico.

The trip to Malta, for a meeting of OSCE's Council of Foreign Ministers scheduled for Dec. 5-6, would be the first time Lavrov has travelled to an EU country since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian daily Vedomosti reported.

While Brussels slapped sanctions on Lavrov over his role in the war, the EU did not impose a travel ban, seeking to leave open a channel of communication with Russia's top diplomat.

Politico reported Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that Lavrov intended to make the trip to Vedomosti, while Malta's Embassy in Russia said invitations to the Dec. 5-6 meeting "will be sent to all OSCE delegations in due course."