Lavrov flew to the OSCE meeting in Skopje via Greece (video)

Bulgaria refused to allow the plane of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov through its airspace if Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian diplomatic department, was on board.

How reports TASS agency, the Russian Foreign Minister arrived in the capital of North Macedonia for the OSCE ministerial meeting through Greece, and not Bulgaria, as planned:

“As TASS learned, the Bulgarian side refused to allow the Russian Foreign Minister’s plane to fly over if the official representative of the Russian diplomatic department, Maria Zakharova, was on board.”

A note from the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which the agency has in its possession, states:

“Permission is granted for participation in the above-mentioned meeting in Skopje by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov and the delegation accompanying him in accordance with the note <…>. The permission does not apply to the Director of the Department of Information and Press of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova, who appears on the sanctions list, according to the current law EU“.

At the same time, experts believe that this is not related to sanctions, since Sergei Lavrov himself is on the EU sanctions list. In 2022, Poland, being the current chairman of the OSCE at that time, refused to allow the Russian delegation led by Lavrov to participate in a meeting of the OSCE Council of Foreign Ministers in Lodz, TASS writes. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated then that Warsaw’s actions were unprecedented, provocative and incompatible with Poland’s status as chairman of the organization.

EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell stated, as stated on the official website, that it supports the decision of North Macedonia to allow the Russian delegation to the ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). At a press conference with North Macedonian Foreign Minister Dimitar Kovacevski in Skopje, he noted:

“However, your decision to allow Lavrov to participate in the meeting is consistent with our common goal of preserving multilateralism. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry needs to hear from the other participants why Moscow was isolated after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And then he can return to the Kremlin and report to the owner of the Kremlin that “The European Union and the OSCE remain united in condemning Russia’s aggressive, illegal behavior. At least from this point of view, this will be useful.”

The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are boycotting the meeting in Skopje due to Lavrov’s presence at it. The foreign ministers of these countries expressed regret over the invitation of the Russian minister to Skopje and announced that they would not come to the meeting. In a joint statement, the ministers recall that the OSCE was created to build security in Europe, prevent conflicts and maintain peace:“Russia has repeatedly proven through its illegal and brutal actions that it is not a security partner for Europe. In fact, Europe now needs protection from Russia.”.

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