The Russian delegation will participate in a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OSCE in Skopje, after Bulgaria, as promised to North Macedonia, opened the airspace for the Russian Federation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, quoted by TASS and BTA.
“Now it seems that Macedonia has invited us to the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OSCE. Bulgaria seems to have promised Macedonia to open its airspace. If it works out, we will be there,” the minister said, speaking at the Primakovski readings forum.
From November 29 to December 1, Skopje will host the OSCE summit, which the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia and OSCE Chairman-in-Office Bujar Osmani described as “the biggest event in the history of North Macedonia”.
76 delegations of OSCE member states and OSCE partners are expected to arrive in Skopje, represented mainly by foreign ministers.
Bulgaria allows Sergey Lavrov’s plane to pass through Bulgarian airspace. This was reported to TASS by the ambassador of Russia to Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova. She specifies that a positive response was received to Moscow’s note about the foreign minister’s plane flying over to go to the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the OSCE meeting in Skopje.
“A positive response was received to our note about the passage of Lavrov’s plane through the airspace of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria officially informed us that the flight in the sky above the country for our minister is permitted,” Mitrofanova told TASS. Earlier, Lavrov himself stated that the Russian delegation will take part in the OSCE meeting in Skopje if Bulgaria opens its airspace for the flight of the delegation of the Russian Federation.
Before the permission was given by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission stated that the flight of the Russian foreign minister did not violate the sanctions of the European Union.
Photo: H. E. Eleonora Mitrofanova, ambassador of Russia to Bulgaria
