"The unthinkable has happened": Lavrov rages after airspace blocking for Serbia trip
Created: 06/18/2022, 04:46
By: Stephanie Munk
Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov had to call off a trip to Serbia because the airspace was blocked for him because of the Ukraine war.
Now the anger in Moscow is great.
Moscow - A planned two-day visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Belgrade fell through on Monday (June 6): Serbia's neighboring countries refused to allow Lavrov's government plane to fly over the country.
According to the Serbian daily
Vecernje Novosti
, Serbia's neighboring countries Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro blocked their airspace for the machine.
Lavrov's visit to Belgrade was therefore canceled, the Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing a diplomatic source.
The reason for the blocking of the airspace are the sanctions that the EU imposed on Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin the day after the start of the Ukraine war.
Ukraine-News: Russia condemns the ban on Lavrov's flight - an "extremely tough" reaction is required
On Monday (June 6), sharp criticism of the blockade of Lavrov's government machine came from Russia.
Deputy Speaker of the Russian House of Lords Konstantin Kosachev condemned the airspace closure as a move "against Russia as a state and Serbia as a state".
He hopes for a joint and "extremely tough" reaction, which will not only be reflected in the form of diplomatic protests, but also in "concrete measures," Kosatchev wrote in the online service Telegram.
Sergey Lavrov later criticized the blockade of his trip by some "NATO members" in a video conference with foreign journalists as "outrageous".
The closure of the airspace is a "disgraceful punishment" for a country that wants to independently determine its foreign policy according to its national interests, Lavrov said.
Ukraine news: Lavrov can't fly to Serbia - and rages about "puppeteers in Brussels"
"The unthinkable happened," he is said to have said, according to
focus.de
.
A sovereign state was deprived of the right to pursue foreign policy, Lavrov complained.
The EU and NATO tried to prevent Serbia from freely choosing its partners.
The West wants the Balkans for itself, just as it claims Ukraine, Lavrov went on to criticize.
The EU relies on those forces that have declared “war on everything Russian”.
"The puppeteers in Brussels want to turn the Balkans into their project of a closed Balkans."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
© Sergei Fadeiche/Imago
"No one will be able to destroy our relations with Serbia," Lavrov said.
He wants to meet his Serbian colleague Nikola Selakovic in Moscow soon.
Serbia has condemned the Ukraine war, but at the same time Belgrade does not want to break with its ally and refuses to join the EU sanctions against Russia.
Serbia recently extended a contract for gas supplies from Russia by three years.
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Lavrov's Serbia trip burst because of the Ukraine war: Russia denounces "hostile action".
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also commented on the matter: "Undoubtedly, such hostile actions towards our country, towards high-ranking representatives of our country can cause certain problems and lead to the schedule of these contacts being postponed for some time," he said, according to the Interfax news agency .
In principle, however, these measures cannot destroy Russia's good relations with friendly states like Serbia, he added.
Meanwhile, Moscow was satisfied with the course of the Ukraine war itself.
The Kremlin is "optimistic" about the development of the "military special operation in Ukraine," said Peskov.
You can read all the information about the Ukraine conflict here.
dpa/smu
