Ukraine war: Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia slammed for stopping Lavrov's visit to Serbia
The Kremlin has sharply criticised three European countries which have refused to let a plane carrying Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cross into their airspace, for a planned official visit to Serbia on Monday.
A Kremlin spokesman described the decision by Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia as a "hostile act", while at a press conference Lavrov said it was "inconceivable" that the three countries had closed their airspace, denouncing the decision as "scandalous".
"Such hostile acts towards our country are capable of causing certain problems (...), but they cannot prevent our diplomacy from continuing its work," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
Serbian authorities also confirmed that Lavrov's visit will not take place, with President Vucic saying he met with the Russian ambassador to discuss the situation, but offered no concrete details.
A pro-Russian newspaper in Serbia published photos of what it said were official documents rejecting Lavrov's overflight requests.
Late on Sunday, Moscow also accused the West of closing off lines of communication by forcing Lavrov to cancel Monday's planned visit.
Serbia has maintained friendly relations with Russia despite the war in Ukraine, refusing to join sanctions against Moscow.
It has, however, voted several times at the United Nations to condemn Russia's invasion.
Serbia is fully dependent on Russian gas. Vucic recently talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone to arrange a new deal on gas supplies for the next three years.
Analyst Slobodan Stupar described Lavrov's attempted visit to Belgrade as a “show” that would have been used by Moscow to further vilify the West.
“I believe the Russians invited themselves” to Serbia, Stupar said.
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