Russia: There will be no Lavrov - Blinken meeting at the OSCE summit in Skopje

2023-11-27 21:06:24, Kosova & Bota CNA

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will not meet during this week's summit in North Macedonia, Russian news agency TASS reported on Monday, citing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Ryabkov.

Washington has not requested a meeting and "there will be no meeting", said Ryabkov.

Earlier Monday, Lavrov said he would attend the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), to be held in Skopje on November 30 and December 1, if Bulgaria opens its airspace to Russian flights. .

Also, Lavrov said that some Western countries had already requested meetings with him.

"If someone approaches us, we never run away or hide," said the head of Russian diplomacy.

Previously, the Government of North Macedonia decided to lift the flight ban of the Russian plane that would allow the participation of the head of Russian diplomacy Lavrov in the OSCE summit in Skopje.

Lavrov: My participation in the OSCE meeting depends on Bulgaria
November 27, 15:02

However, Skopje said on Monday that they have not received any commitment from Sofia to allow Lavrov to fly in Bulgarian airspace.

"North Macedonia has not accepted any promise from Bulgaria that Sofia will open its airspace for the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's plane to attend the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Skopje. Bulgaria or Greece must decide whether one of them will lift the sanctions for Russian flights or only allow Lavrov's plane to fly in their space", sources from the Foreign Ministry of North Macedonia told Radio Free Europe.

The OSCE Ministerial Council is seen as a key event in which it will be decided how the organization will operate in the future, given the ongoing obstacles and blockades imposed by Russia since launching its invasion of Ukraine in February of last year. passed.

It will be attended by 76 delegations, 57 from the OSCE member states and other partner states of the organization./ REL