Sergei Lavrov had been due to hold talks in Belgrade, one of Moscow's few remaining allies in Europe, but he was forced to cancel the visit after Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Montenegro closed their airspace to his plane.

“The countries around Serbia have closed the channel of communication by refusing to authorize the overflight of the plane of Sergei Lavrov who was headed to Serbia. The Russian delegation should have arrived in Belgrade for talks. But the EU and NATO member countries closed their airspace,” the ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

More than forty countries and territories have completely closed their airspace to all Russian airlines and Russian-registered private jets after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (ILKHA)