Countries Surrounding Serbia Close Airspace For Lavrov's Plane - Zakharova

ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th June, 2022) Serbia's neighboring countries have closed their national airspace for an aircraft of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, thus blocking another channel of communication, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

"Just today, an hour ago, the countries surrounding Serbia closed the communication channel, banning the overflight of Sergey Lavrov's plane, which was traveling to Serbia. The Russian delegation was supposed to arrive in Belgrade for negotiations. The EU and NATO member states closed their airspace, closed another channel of communication," Zakharova told Italian tv broadcaster La7.

Earlier in the day, Serbian newspaper Vecernje Novosti reported that the authorities of Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia had banned the Russian foreign minister's plane from flying through their airspace.

Lavrov was scheduled to visit Belgrade from June 6-7.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. In response, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow, with many of them closing their airspace to all Russian flights.