Bulgaria closes airspace to Lavrov’s plane due to sanctions

Bulgaria refused to open an air corridor for Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s aircraft due to the European Union’s sanctions, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry issued a note on June 1, 2022, refusing to give diplomatic permission for [Russian] Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s flight to cross Bulgarian airspace. The move was based on the European Union’s sanctions on Russia, particularly a decision made by the Council of the EU on July 31, 2014, in addition to a decision dated February 25, 2022, which included Sergey Lavrov at number 670 in the list of individuals and entities sanctioned by the EU in accordance with Regulation 269/2014," the statement reads.

Lavrov was expected to make a visit to Serbia on June 6-7. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that Serbia’s neighboring countries had closed their airspace to his plane.