Six Maltese civil society organisations are urging the government to end the sale of passports to Russian elites “who have benefited from (President Vladimir) Putin’s corruption”.

In a joint statement issued by The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, SOS Malta, Integra Foundation, aditus Foundation, Jesuit Refugee Services Malta and Repubblika, the group condemned Putin’s “unprovoked invasion of peaceful Ukraine” and voiced their solidarity with both Ukrainians and Russians who “are subjugated and repressed by Putin”.

"The undersigned Maltese civil society organisations condemn Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of peaceful Ukraine and voice their solidarity both with Ukrainains and with the Russian people who are subjugated and repressed by Putin."

Full statement:https://t.co/Ua4QptFbwl

— Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation (@daphnefdtn) February 25, 2022

Reminding the government that Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo stated ‘might is not right’, the civil society organisations urged the Maltese government to support any and all targeted sanctions against the Russian government, including broad sanctions that would reduce Russia’s ability to conduct warfare, and to end the sale of Maltese passports to Russian elites, to indefinitely suspend agreements with Russia and to expel Russian diplomats “who work in support of the illegal invasion of Ukraine”.

They also called upon the Maltese government to show support and solidarity to the Ukrainian people by halting all forced returns of Ukrainian nationals, granting subsidiary protection to all Ukrainian asylum-seekers, releasing Ukrainians detained with a view to removal and accepting all Ukrainian visa applications.

A protest will be held on Friday evening in front of the Embassy of the Russian Federation to appeal to the Russian authorities to immediately order an end to the military invasion of Ukraine and to order military forces back to Russia.