“The inconceivable has happened,” said the head of Russian diplomacy, during an online press conference convened urgently. “We have deprived a sovereign state of its right to exercise its foreign policy,” he added.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
Moscow castigated, Monday, June 6, the closure “scandalous” and “hostile” by three European countries from their airspace to the plane which was to take to Serbia the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov, targeted by European sanctions because of the offensive in Ukraine.
>> War in Ukraine: follow our live
“The inconceivable has happened”Sergei Lavrov said during an urgently called online press conference. “A sovereign state has been deprived of its right to exercise its foreign policy“, he added, denouncing this measure “scandalous”.
Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro, all three NATO members, have closed their airspace to Sergei Lavrov’s plane which was due to fly to Serbia for a two-day visit, citing sanctions imposed by Brussels to Russia after the launch of its offensive in Ukraine on February 24.
“Such hostile acts against our country are capable of causing certain problems (…), but they cannot prevent our diplomacy from continuing its work”reacted for his part the spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria (…) did not give diplomatic permission for the overflight of Bulgarian territory for Russian planes”Bulgarian diplomacy said in a statement, defending a decision “in line with the EU sanctions regime against Russia”. The other two countries informed Russian embassies of similar decisions.
The head of Russian diplomacy, who was supposed to meet Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, his counterpart Nikola Selakovic and the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Porfirije in Belgrade, was forced to cancel his visit. “No one can destroy our relations with Serbia”underlined Sergey Lavrov.