Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is anything but happy after he had to cancel a trip to Serbia because the airspace was closed by several neighboring countries.
Updated less than 20 minutes ago
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led the West to impose a series of sanctions on Russia, and a closed airspace is one of them.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had several scheduled meetings in Belgrade, Serbia, on Monday, but had to cancel the trip as some of Serbia’s neighbors closed the airspace for the plane that was to take Lavrov to Serbia.
Russia’s ambassador to Bulgaria confirms that the Bulgarian authorities did not allow Lavrov to fly through the country’s airspace.
Montenegro and northern Macedonia have also closed the airspace of the Russian Foreign Minister according to NTB. As the whole EU closed the airspace of Russian aircraft when Russia invaded Ukraine, Lavrov had no other option but to advance.
During a press conference on Monday, Lavrov went hard after the incident and said that so far they have not received an explanation as to why the countries chose to close the airspace.
“The unthinkable has happened,” Lavrov said at an online press conference from Moscow.
He added that no one can destroy the ties between Russia and Serbia and that the Serbian foreign minister has been invited to Moscow. Lavrov says he hopes that the trip goes as planned.
– This is depriving a sovereign state of the right to pursue its own foreign policy, he emphasized.
The Russian spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, complained on Italian TV on Sunday that several countries closed the airspace.
–– The countries bordering Serbia have closed the only route the plane could take to Serbia. The Russian delegation had plans to hold meetings in Belgrade, while the EU and NATO countries have closed their airspace, the spokeswoman said, according to CNN.
Serbia has signed a new gas agreement with Russia, and is not part of the sanctions against the country.
Lavrov was scheduled to meet with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the agenda of the meeting for discussions on supplying Serbia with Russian energy.
This will not happen, but Vucic has previously said he will meet the Russian ambassador on Monday at 10 am.
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