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.
