Bulgaria frustrates Russia: Lavrov is banned

A real TV series has unfolded around the OSCE summit. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with foreign ministers of OSCE member states at the summit, but his plans were significantly disrupted by Bulgaria. Lavrov had to travel through that country to the North Macedonia summit, but Bulgaria did not allow this.

Bulgaria claims that the plane that Lavrov flew to North Macedonia was not allowed to pass through its airspace due to the presence of a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman. Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson in question, is on the EU sanctions list.

Lavrov’s plane was then forced to detour through Greece to end up in North Macedonia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the Bulgarian action as “ridiculous and stupid.” Because of the siege, Lavrov arrived “much later” than scheduled, European correspondent Geert-Jan Hahn reported.

Russian threats

“The malicious stupidity of Russophobes has reached such a point that for the first time in our history, the official authorities did not ban a plane, but banned a person on that plane,” Zakharova wrote on the messaging service Telegram. Zakharova suggested that Russia might impose a similar ban on overflights by “thousands of NATO officials,” accusing Bulgaria of creating a “dangerous precedent.”

Lavrov’s presence at the North Macedonia summit has already sparked anger. Therefore, Ukraine and the Baltic countries boycotted the summit. However, there has been uncertainty surrounding the organization for a long time: “Russia has vetoed everything from the beginning,” political analyst Rene Jaarsma previously said.