The foreign minister expressed regret that Brussels had “lost civilization” and called the attitude of Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia “disgraceful”.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrovhas felt in their bodies this Monday what thousands of Russians have felt as they plan their holidays: Russia is not only a country isolated from the West in banking and business, European skies are also closed to Russian planes.
Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia have refused to allow the plane of the head of Russian diplomacy to pass through their airspace. So Sergei Lavrov on a visit to Serbia This week plans to further strengthen ties with the Belgrade government, one of its few remaining allies in Europe.
Angered, the Russian foreign minister on Monday described as “unthinkable” the recent closure of airspace to route its aircraft through Serbia’s neighboring countries. Lavrov himself said in a press conference that the attitude of these countries was “outrageous” and that he There is “unprecedented action by some NATO countries”,
“The countries that denied the passage of Russian aircraft will say that they were ordered by the European Union and NATO. And the latter, in turn, will say that these countries made their decision,” Lavrov ventured. For his part, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian parliament’s upper house, Konstantin Kosachev, has suggested that NATO was pressuring the three countries.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said such actions cause problems at the highest level of diplomats’ meetings. But he has warned that this will not prevent Moscow from maintaining contact with the Allied, because it is Serbia, which has the support of Russia regarding the situation in Kosovoswhose independence it does not recognize.
The Belgrade government also supports Moscow and has neither imposed sanctions on Russia nor closed its skies, although it has condemned what it considers to be one. invasion of ukraine, During the crisis, direct flights from Moscow to Belgrade have been maintained, although now only 550 euros for the month of July.
The two countries have long had close ties, with Belgrade recently signing a new three-year contract to obtain Russian natural gas. Serbia, along with Turkey and Georgia, is now one of the few options for Russians to spend their summer holidays abroad. But Serbia’s position on the other side of the European Union makes it difficult for Russian aircraft to reach.
second trip failed
This is not the first time Vladimir Putin’s most traveled minister has had trouble flying. Lavrov was previously forced to cancel a trip to Geneva for disarmament talks in late February. EU will close its airspace For Russian Aviation.
Lavrov was about to meet with the president, Alexander Vuciko, and with Serbian Patriarch Porfirije. A Russian diplomatic source told Interfax news agency that there was no option but to cancel the trip to Serbia. “Russian diplomacy has not yet learned to teleport,” commented the source.
Lavrov stressed that during the last day there have been many questions about “this reaction to the unprecedented decisions made by some NATO members” and “interruptions in travel”.
The head of Russian diplomacy has said that, with this decision, a sovereign state has been denied the right to carry out its foreign policy. And Serbia’s international activities in relation to Russia have also been banned. He specified that, at the moment, no official clarification has been received from countries that have closed the airspace for their aircraft.
“If the visit of the Russian foreign minister is perceived by the West as a threat on an almost global scale, the West is in great trouble,” he said.
Brussels “I lost my knowledge”
The Russian Foreign Minister said that has invited its Serbian counterpart to visit Moscowand expressed the hope that “the plane in which to travel – whether regular or special – is not subject to shameful condemnation by Brussels, which has lost all decency, nor by its customers”.
Asked whether Russia plans to respond to these actions, the head of diplomacy of the same country that invaded Ukraine a hundred days ago said Moscow would never “do anything that would protect the people”. further complicate the relationship between According to the head of Russian diplomacy, today more and more “reasonable people in Europe are beginning to wonder why Russia should be made an enemy.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zazarova condemned the decision, saying the EU and NATO countries continue to ruin their ties with Russia.
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