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Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov’s journey to Serbia was abruptly canceled on Sunday after three international locations bordering the Balkan nation closed their airspace to the Russian diplomat’s airplane.

The Russian International Ministry on Sunday confirmed reviews that Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Montenegro didn’t enable permission for the overflight of the plane carrying Lavrov to the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Russian International Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reportedly referred to as the transfer “one other closed channel of communication.”

“The international locations bordering Serbia have closed the one air path to the plane of Sergey Lavrov who was to depart for Serbia. The Russian delegation was scheduled to carry talks in Belgrade, whereas the EU and NATO member-countries have closed their airspace,” Zakharova instructed an Italian tv station, in keeping with Tass.

“Our diplomacy has not but mastered the flexibility to teleport,” a senior Russian International Ministry official stated of the incident, in keeping with the Russian information outlet Interfax.

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Lavrov had been scheduled to go to Serbia June 6-7. Earlier than the journey was canceled, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic was reportedly having to deal with the “extraordinarily difficult” flight logistics.

“It’s actually unbelievable that the scenario in Europe and on this planet is such that the president of one of many international locations has to cope with things like the logistics of the flight of the minister of overseas affairs [of another country], on which it relies upon whether or not he will get there or not,” Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic instructed a Serbian media outlet in regards to the scenario with Lavrov’s flight.

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Serbia has shut ties with Russia and has not joined Western sanctions in opposition to the Kremlin over the invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Serbia reached an settlement final month on pure fuel shipments to Serbia amid Russian President Vladimir Putin chopping off different international locations for refusing to pay for the fuel in roubles.