Lavrov: Russia and Serbia are coordinating for Dacic's visit to Moscow

2023-06-30 15:37:36, Kosova & Bota CNA

Moscow and Belgrade are coordinating the visit to Russia of the first deputy prime minister, at the same time the minister of foreign affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an online conference on June 30.

As reported by the Russian news agency TASS, Lavrov said that the visit was being arranged after the visit of the Russian delegation to Serbia in 2022, according to him, was prevented. He blamed the West for this.

"Truly, the West prevented this trip, simply by forcing Serbia's neighboring countries not to allow the passage of our planes," Lavrov emphasized.

He said that concrete dates are being agreed with the Serbian side.

"We agreed with Ivica Dacic, my good old friend, that in this situation he should come to the Russian Federation. Now we agree on some specific dates," said the head of Russian diplomacy.

Lavrov did not rule out the possibility that his words could cause "another brazen demand from the West that Ivica not come to the Russian Federation."

"But in any case, we have such an agreement with him," Lavrov added.

In this context, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized that contacts between Russia and Serbia are maintained regularly.

"We are very grateful to the president [Aleksander Vu?i?] and the prime minister of Serbia [Ana Brnabi?], as well as the ministers of the Government of Serbia who are always open to contact with our ambassador. They [contacts] are very helpful, plus we are always available to communicate by phone. And I am looking forward to the visit of Ivica Dacic whenever it is convenient for him," Lavrov said.

Lavrov's two-day visit to Belgrade was planned for June 2022, but did not take place because Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro refused to provide an air corridor for the Russian minister's plane.

The head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the decision of a number of European countries not to allow the passage of his plane unprecedented and unimaginable.

The visit was organized a few months after Russia invaded Ukraine, as a result of which the West imposed sanctions on Russia.

Sergei Lavrov, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, are on the sanctions list of many Western countries. The only countries they can travel to in Europe are Belarus, Moldova, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbia is one of the few European countries that has not yet implemented these sanctions./ REL