Botsan-Kharchenko, Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)
Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov’s plans to visit Belgrade on June 6 and 7 have been canceled because Serbia’s neighbors Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro all denied his aircraft permission to enter their airspace.
“Our diplomacy has yet to master teleportation,” an unnamed Russian diplomat said late on June 5 in response to questions whether the trip will be canceled due to the denied flight permits, Russia’s Interfax news agency has reported.
The Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, confirmed in the evening of June 5 that three countries neighboring Serbia closed their airspace to Lavrov’s flight.
“The Russian delegation was supposed to arrive in Belgrade for talks. Member countries of the European Union and NATO closed their airspace – closed another channel of communication,” Zakharova told Italy’s La7 TV, adding that Russia has no intention of introducing another “Iron Curtain” but that the EU is doing just that.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with Russia’s Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko in the morning of June 6. Following the sit-down, he announced on Instagram that Lavrov's visit was canceled.
The Russian foreign minister was scheduled to meet with President Vucic, Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selakovic and Parliament Speaker Ivica Dacic, as well as with Patriarch Porfirije, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
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