Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Skopje today to attend an OSCE meeting, on a plane that flew over Greece, not Bulgaria, as originally expected, after authorities in Sofia refused permission because of spokeswoman Maria Zakharova , which is subject to EU sanctions, was on board. This was stated by a member of the Russian delegation quoted by the Interfax agency.
“The evil stupidity of Russophobes has reached the point that for the first time in our history the authorities have banned the overflight not of a plane, but of a person on the plane,” writes Maria Zakharova on her Telegram channel. According to the spokeswoman, the air traffic rules established by the Chicago Convention of 1944 do not provide that the airspace can be considered a country’s “territory” and therefore EU sanctions cannot be applied against a person who is on board an aircraft that flies over this country without stopping there. Zakharova then wonders whether the Bulgarian authorities realize that they have set “a dangerous precedent” and believe that “similar measures can be applied in response to thousands of NATO officials” who are banned from entering Russia in response to Western sanctions was banned. “Who gave the illiterate authorities in Sofia the right to bring shame on the Bulgarian people?” concludes the speaker.
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