Senior Montenegrin MP questions closure of airspace to Russian FM — RT World Information

The top of the Montenegrin parliamentary committee on international affairs, Miodrag Lekic, has criticized the shortage of transparency round a choice to shut the Balkan state’s airspace to Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday.
The transfer, which was supported by Bulgaria and North Macedonia, derailed the Russian diplomat’s deliberate go to to Serbia.

In his assertion on Monday, quoted by native media retailers, the lawmaker questioned “whether or not and at which session a Montenegrin state physique determined to not permit the Russian international minister to fly over our territory.” The MP famous that diplomatic contacts stay in place between Russia and EU member states, in addition to Turkey, which – like Montenegro – aspires to hitch the European bloc. A “technical precondition” for such contacts is uninterrupted flights for high officers, he stated.

He proceeded to query whether or not the “Montenegrin authorities make choices autonomously” or first seek the advice of the EU and NATO, and even “obtain impetus from third events.” The MP emphasised that he didn’t essentially take subject with these strikes per se, as he was strongly against “Russia’s invasion and aggression in opposition to Ukraine.” Nonetheless, Montenegrin residents shouldn’t be saved in the dead of night about such key choices, Lekic argued.

The lawmaker additionally urged that the authorities in Podgorica are doubling down on Russophobia within the hope of expediting Montenegro’s accession to the EU and presumably additionally so as to shift the main focus away from the unscrupulous actions of some Montenegrin politicians.

Within the absence of a significant response, the MP is threatening to summon the officers accountable to a “public management listening to on the Committee on Worldwide Relations and Emigrants” of the Montenegrin parliament.

Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov was because of go to Serbia on Monday and Tuesday. Nonetheless, on Sunday, Serbian media outlet Vechernie Novosti reported that three nations surrounding Serbia – Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro – had closed their airspace to Lavrov’s flight, successfully blocking the diplomat’s go to to Belgrade.

Russia’s Overseas Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, later confirmed the report.

Chatting with Serbia’s state broadcaster Radio-Tv Serbia on Monday, President Aleksandar Vucic stated he had not “seen the form of hysteria for a very long time that little Serbia has been uncovered to in Europe and world wide because of the arrival of Lavrov.”

“You’ll be able to’t imagine how a lot stress there was on Serbia due to that go to,” Vucic advised the journalists.

He went on to accuse the EU of hypocrisy because the bloc is outwardly exerting nowhere close to as a lot stress on Turkey, which can quickly welcome Lavrov.

Commenting on his aborted journey to Serbia on Monday, Lavrov himself stated the “unthinkable has occurred,” with a sovereign state being successfully disadvantaged “of the fitting to hold out its international coverage.”

“The worldwide actions of Serbia have been blocked, at the least for now, within the Russian path,” the international minister stated.

“We gained’t mince our phrases right here, it’s yet one more vivid and didactic demonstration of how far NATO and the EU will go in using the most affordable means to stress those that aren’t guided by their nationwide curiosity and aren’t able to sacrifice their rules and dignity for the sake of the principles that the West is imposing as an alternative to worldwide legislation,” Lavrov added.

Russia has now invited Serbian Overseas Minister Nikola Selakovic to go to Moscow as an alternative.

The EU had earlier determined to shut its airspace to Russian planes in response to the navy offensive launched by Moscow in Ukraine in late February.