Bulgaria bans plane carrying Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman

Sofia did not allow the plane carrying Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and Foreign Minister Lavrov to fly through its airspace to North Macedonia, forcing it to take a detour.

"The dangerous stupidity of anti-Russian sentiment has reached such a level that for the first time in history, the authorities have imposed a ban not only on an aircraft, but also on a person on board it," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram today.

The comments came after Bulgaria refused to allow a plane carrying Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and a Russian delegation to fly through its airspace to Skopje, North Macedonia, to attend a conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The move forced the Russian plane to take a detour, via Türkiye and Greece.

Bulgaria, a member of the European Union (EU), initially agreed to open its airspace to Mr Lavrov’s plane. However, Sofia later reversed its decision, saying it had only approved Mr Lavrov and his delegation, not Ms Zakharova. Both Mr Lavrov and Ms Zakharova are on the EU’s sanctions list, which was created in response to Russia’s operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in Moscow on April 4. Photo: AFP

The Kremlin also criticized Bulgaria today for its "ridiculous and foolish" actions. Meanwhile, Ms. Zakharova hinted that Russia could do the same to Bulgaria "with thousands of NATO officials", accusing Sofia of creating a "dangerous precedent".

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has not commented on the information.

The Russian delegation arrived in Skopje on the evening of November 29. Ms. Zakharova said that Russia had received many requests for bilateral meetings in North Macedonia and that Moscow would announce Mr. Lavrov's specific schedule later.

The OSCE has 57 members from North America, Europe and Asia, with North Macedonia holding the chair. The organization's foreign ministers' meeting will take place on November 30 and December 1. Lavrov's presence is causing a rift among members, with Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland all boycotting the meeting for this reason.

Nhu Tam (According to TASS, Reuters )

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