Russian Foreign Minister's visit to Serbia canceled, countries in region close airspace

2022-06-06 08:03:38Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Russian Foreign Minister's visit to Serbia canceled, countries in region
Sergei Lavrov

The news was announced by a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry, who told the Interfax news agency on Sunday that Lavrov's visit to Belgrade was canceled, as the countries around Serbia closed their airspace for his plane, writes "Reuters “.

The same source confirmed the reports that Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia and Montenegro had closed their airspace for the plane, which would travel to Belgrade on Monday, the head of Russian diplomacy.

"Our diplomacy has not yet invented teleportation," said the source.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Skopje has confirmed to Radio Free Europe that Northern Macedonia has rejected the request of the Embassy of the Russian Federation for the use of the airspace of this country for the flight of the plane of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has announced he would visit Belgrade on Monday.

The request of the Russian Embassy was made despite the fact that Northern Macedonia on February 28 imposed air sanctions on Russia, after the occupation of Ukraine on February 24.

Lavrov, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, are on the sanctions list of many Western states over the invasion of Ukraine. The only countries where they can travel to Europe are Belarus, Moldova, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Meanwhile, the Government of Kosovo, which has imposed sanctions on Russia, has supported the closure of Kosovo airspace for Russian aircraft, but the NATO mission in Kosovo, KFOR, has said that Kosovo airspace will remain open. .

On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Lavrov would stay in Belgrade on June 6th and 7th. The warning followed the agreement of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a new three-year contract for gas supplies from Russia. The Serbian president says he aims for his country's membership in the European Union, but has worked for years to strengthen ties with Russia.

Serbia has so far refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow.


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