Serbia's Vucic Personally Oversees Preparations for Lavrov's Visit, Prime Minister Says

BELGRADE (Sputnik) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has been forced to personally organise the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Belgrade, scheduled for 6-7 June, after several countries closed their airspace for the diplomat's plane, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Sunday.
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On Sunday, Serbian newspaper Vecernje Novosti reported that the authorities of Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia had banned the Russian foreign minister's plane from flying through their airspace.
"The situation with the visit of Sergey Lavrov is extremely difficult. It is unbelievable that the environment in Europe and in the world is forcing the country's president to deal with such things as logistics of the arrival of a foreign minister of another country," Brnabic told Serbian broadcaster TV Pink.
She added that the situation is further complicated by a visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on June 10. Both trips are taking placing when "no one wants to talk to anyone, let alone hear anyone else," according to Brnabic.
"When you have such a high-level visit, as visit of the Russian foreign minister, you may think that people are interested in hearing his position, no matter how much they disagree with it or consider it erroneous and contradicting the international law, especially in times of crisis, as now, when the world is on the verge of World War III," the Serbian prime minister added.
Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botan-Kharchenko will meet with Vucic on Monday. The talks will focus, among other things, on Lavrov's visit.
Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to Montenegro Vladislav Maslennikov has confirmed to Sputnik that Podgorica has denied entry to Russian foreign minister's plane into its airspace.
On 24 February, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian aggression. In response, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow, with many of them closing their airspace to all Russian flights.
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