Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, called the decision by three eastern European nations to prevent his jet from flying to Serbia “unusual” and said that he had not yet received an explanation for their action.
“The key thing is that no one will be able to undermine our ties with Serbia,” he added, inviting his Serbian colleague to visit him in Moscow as an alternative.
An official jet scheduled to fly from Moscow’s top diplomat to Belgrade on Monday was denied entry into the airspace of Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Montenegro because of the closures.
The Kremlin called it an act of hostility against the United States.
The West has been forewarned by Putin to expect new targets in Ukraine if Kyiv receives long-range missiles.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters that “things in the West are plainly rather terrible” if his trip to Serbia is seen as a threat on a global scale by the West.
Aleksandar Vulin, Serbia’s interior minister, expressed his concern at “the blockage” of Lavrov’s visit, describing him as “a great and proven ally of Serbia.”
“There can be no peace in a world if diplomats cannot work for a peaceful resolution. Those who stood in the way of Sergei Lavrov’s entrance did not want peace; instead, they hoped to defeat Russia,” Vulin said.
According to the Serbian President: “Serbia is happy that it is not part of the anti-Russian frenzy, and the nations who are will have time to be embarrassed.”
