Russia criticizes Bulgaria for not allowing plane carrying Foreign Minister Lavrov through its airspace

The plane carrying Mr Lavrov was forced to take a longer route via Greece to take him to a conference of foreign ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Skopje, North Macedonia.

Commenting on the incident, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on November 30 strongly criticized Bulgaria's stance, according to Reuters.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who is on the European Union (EU) sanctions list, said her presence on the plane was the reason the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry gave for refusing to allow the plane to approach its airspace.

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment.

Nga chỉ trích Bulgaria vì đóng không phận với máy bay chở Ngoại trưởng Lavrov - Ảnh 1. — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gets off the plane in Skopje on November 29

Ms Zakharova also implied that Russia could impose similar flight bans on "thousands of NATO officials" and accused Bulgaria of setting a "dangerous precedent".

Russia's TASS news agency reported that Mr. Lavrov arrived in Skopje on November 29 after a five-hour round-trip flight to avoid the airspace of countries that banned Russian aircraft.

Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announced a boycott of the conference in Skopje to protest the presence of the Russian delegation. The conference is scheduled to take place on November 30 and December 1.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he understood concerns about Lavrov's attendance at the event in Skopje, North Macedonia, but said it was an opportunity for Lavrov to hear firsthand the views of OSCE members on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The 57-member OSCE is the successor to an organization that was born during the Cold War as a forum for dialogue between the Soviet Union and Western powers.

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