Lavrov conducted an online press conference in Moscow, after not being able to reach Belgrade on Sunday, where he had plans to hold meetings with the head of state of Serbia, his counterpart and with the president of the Serbian parliament during a two-day visit.

The Serbian newspaper Vecernje Novosti reported on Sunday that Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro refused entry to their airspace to Lavrov’s executive airplane.

According to the minister, since the news came out there have been many questions from the media requesting Moscow’s reaction to the event, which he called “unthinkable”, carried out, he said, by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

He said that with this action the Western countries show that they will continue to pressure Moscow without neglecting any means, even the “vilest”.

Lavrov stressed that this kind of mentality went into the decision of some NATO countries to deny the Russian plane entry into their airspace on its way to Serbia. Regarding this, he expressed that the position of the West is a cynical one, as it deprived Serbia it its right to choose its own partners by not allowing it to receive the representative of Moscow, while maintaining a discourse in favor of the freedom of each country to do so.

The Russian Foreign Minister assured that his country will never follow the example of its Western “partners” and take measures that limit ties between peoples and nations. He also reported that in the face of recent events, his Serbian counterpart, Nikola Selakovic, was invited to Russia in the near future, and expressed his hope that the community bloc would not interfere.

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