“Today (…), countries around Serbia shut down the communications channel, Sergei refused to recognize the overview of Lavrov’s plane and flew to Serbia,” Zakarova told the Italian television channel La7 on Sunday night. , According to Russian news agencies.
“The Russian delegation was due to arrive in Belgrade for talks, but the European Union (EU) and NATO member states have closed their airspace,” Zakarova was quoted as saying by the French news agency AFP today.
According to the Russian news agency TASS, Bulgaria, northern Macedonia and Montenegro have refused to provide an air route for Lavrov’s plane, according to the Serbian newspaper Vecernje Novosti.
AFP reports that Lavrov’s visit to Serbia has been canceled, according to Russian diplomatic sources quoted by Interfax.
Lavrov is expected to hold a press conference today on the issue.
The vice-president of the Federation Council, Konstantin Kozakov, the upper house of the Russian parliament, condemned the closure of Lavrov’s plane as a “movement against Russia and Serbia as a nation.”
“I hope the reaction will be collective and very intense, not only in the form of diplomatic protests, but also in the form of practical and concrete actions,” Kossachev wrote in a social networking telegram quoted by the AFP.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Pranabic said on Sunday that the situation was “exceptionally complicated” as Lavrov’s plane could not fly over some countries.
The head of government said at the time that Serbian President Alexander Vusic himself was involved in arranging the visit.
Like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sergei Lavrov has been under EU sanctions since February 25, the day after the invasion of Ukraine.
Lavrov was in Belgrade to meet with the Serbian President, his Serbian President Nikolai Selakovic and the Serbian Orthodox Church patriot Porbri.
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