As of: February 23, 2024, 6:58 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday (February 22, 2024) at the G-20 foreign ministers meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
© Imago / SNA
The Brazilian company Vibra Energia refused to allow the Russian Foreign Minister to refuel his government plane.
The reason: fear of US sanctions.
Lavrov flew on “hitchhiking”.
Rio de Janeiro/Brasilia – Russia has found a way to circumvent many of the West's economic restrictions.
But this week, even Vladimir Putin's inner circle felt the consequences: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov first had to fly widely around European airspace on his trip to the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
When he left, the kerosene supplier Vibra Energia reportedly refused him fuel - for fear of US sanctions.
Lavrov has to abandon the plane: kerosene supplier refuses to refuel
The Russian Foreign Minister was traveling in the government plane Ilyushin Il-96 with the registration number RA-96019, as the
Aero Telegraph
industry service reported.
After the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the Russian politician wanted to fly to the Brazilian capital Brasilia to meet President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
After Russia's attack on Ukraine, which violated international law, the West passed numerous sanctions packages - which now disrupted Lavrov's travel plans.
Because in Brasilia the government plane would have needed kerosene in order to be able to make its later journey home to Russia.
But Brazilian kerosene supplier Vibra Energie declined to refuel, according to a report by Brazilian magazine
Valor Economico
.
The reason: fear of sanctions from the USA.
The Russian Foreign Minister then threatened to cancel the meeting with Lula da Silva, the report continued.
In the end, however, things continued "hitchhiking": Lavrov got on the plane of Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and flew with him to Brasilia to attend the appointment with President Lula, it was said.
Lavrov had to take a detour on the way to South America.
From Moscow, the government plane first flew south over Turkey and then to Casablanca, Morocco, to avoid European airspace, according to
Aero Telegraph
.
From there we continued as planned to Cuba, where the Foreign Minister made a stopover as part of his week-long trip to Latin America.
G20 foreign ministers meeting: Baerbock addresses Lavrov directly
Not only was the journey to and from the meeting apparently difficult, meeting his counterparts was probably not always pleasant for Lavrov.
For example, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) spoke directly to the Russians at the G20 summit.
“If you care about human lives, if you care about your own people, Russian children and young people, you must end this war now,” the Green politician told Lavrov in front of the world.
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The direct appeal had a history.
At a past G20 meeting, Lavrov may have walked out of the room “in protest” before a speech by Baerbock.
The 73-year-old had already left the room at an OSCE meeting in Skopje when his German counterpart gave her speech.
As with other meetings, he was obviously only in the room “when he speaks himself, but not to listen to others,” Baerbock commented at the time.