Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had scheduled a official visit to Serbia which will take place this Monday and Tuesday. But the trip to one of the few countries in Europe that has not yet cut ties with Moscow ended up failing to materialize. The reason? Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro – three NATO countries – did not allow the passage of the aircraft that would transport the head of Russian diplomacy.
The news was advanced in the Serbian press and later confirmed by the Kremlin, which has already reacted to what happened. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the countries for having closed “another channel of communication” with Europe. In an interview with the Italian channel La7 quoted by the RIA agency, the diplomatic official accused the European Union and NATO of being “selfish” and of “thinking they are in the center of the world”: “They have no moral right to teach anyone nothing”.
Another criticism came from another member of the Russian diplomatic corps. Quoted by Reuters, the official regretted the decision of the three countries and commented, in an ironic tone, that the “Russian diplomacy has not learned to teleport.”
Instead of the official visit to Serbia, Sergei Lavrov will give a press conference This Monday, at 11 am (Lisbon time), he will address the issues that would be discussed with the Serbian leaders and will also take the opportunity to comment on the decision of the authorities of the three NATO countries.
Serbia has been one of the few exceptions in Europe when it comes to maintaining ties with Russia. Highly dependent on Russian gas and with a historic alliance with Moscow, Belgrade has not imposed any sanctions and has preferred to maintain a low-key approach. to the conflict, despite having condemned the invasion of Ukraine.
In relations with Russia, Bulgaria is a member state of the European Union, therefore it follows the Brussels guidelines on the closure of airspace. North Macedonia, for its part, does not allow Russian aircraft to overflight, while in the case of Montenegro there are some movement restrictions in its airspace that require prior authorization, which in this case was not granted.
Source: Observadora
