Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Serbia has been cancelled after countries around Serbia closed their airspace to his aircraft.
Lavrov had been due to hold talks in Belgrade on Monday with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, but Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro closed their airspace to the plane that would have carried Moscow’s top diplomat, according to Serbian newspaper Večernje Novosti
Serbia, which has close cultural ties with Russia, has fended off pressure to take sides over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has not joined western sanctions against Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic agreed last month that Russia would continue supplying natural gas to Serbia, while other countries have been cut off for refusing to pay for Russian gas in roubles.
