Russia’s FM says decision by 3 European states to block his plane ‘unprecedented’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has condemned as an “outrageous action” the decision by three eastern European countries to block his plane, saying the move was “unprecedented” and “unthinkable.”

As a result of waves of tough sanctions against Moscow over its “special military operation” in Ukraine that has begun on February 24, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Montenegro – all NATO member states – in an unprecedented move banned Lavrov’s Monday flight to the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

“There were a lot of questions from the media last night and this morning regarding our reaction to the unprecedented decisions taken by some US-led NATO member states and the decisions that prevented the Russian Foreign Minister from visiting the Republic of Serbia. The unthinkable has happened, of course; I understand the interest you are showing in our assessment of these outrageous actions,” Lavrov said on Monday at an online press conference, TASS news agency reported.

He also called the move by the three NATO members as “basically a deprivation of a sovereign state’s right to conduct foreign policy,” adding, “Serbia’s international activity is blocked, at least for the moment in the direction of Russia.”

Lavrov also noted that he had not yet received an explanation from the said countries for their decision, saying that he would instead invite his Serbian counterpart to visit him in Moscow.

“The main thing is no one will be able to destroy our relations with Serbia,” he said.

Earlier, the Serbian daily Danas cited Prime Minister Ana Brnabic saying that the situation around the top Russian diplomat’s visit was “extremely complicated” and that President Aleksandar Vucic was dealing with the logistics of his trip.

It would have been the first visit of a high-ranking Russian official to Serbia since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis and at a time when the European Union is preparing a new package of sanctions against Moscow.

“This is another very clear and instructive demonstration of the extent to which NATO and the EU can go to use the most lowbrow ways to influence those who are guided by national interests and not ready to sacrifice their principles, their dignity in favor of the very rules that the West imposes instead of international law,” Lavrov stated.

The Russian foreign minister further told reports that “If a visit by the Russian foreign minister to Serbia is seen in the West as something approaching a threat on a universal scale, then things in the West are clearly pretty bad.”