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The top of the nation’s international affairs committee says officers should clarify the choice
The top of the Montenegrin parliamentary committee on international affairs, Miodrag Lekic, has criticized the shortage of transparency round a choice to shut the Balkan state’s airspace to Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday.
The transfer, which was supported by Bulgaria and North Macedonia, derailed the Russian diplomat’s deliberate go to to Serbia.
In his assertion on Monday, quoted by native media shops, the lawmaker questioned “whether or not and at which session a Montenegrin state physique determined to not enable the Russian international minister to fly over our territory.” The MP famous that diplomatic contacts stay in place between Russia and EU member states, in addition to Turkey, which – like Montenegro – aspires to hitch the European bloc. A “technical precondition” for such contacts is uninterrupted flights for high officers, he mentioned.
He proceeded to query whether or not the “Montenegrin authorities make choices autonomously” or first seek the advice of the EU and NATO, and even “obtain impetus from third events.” The MP emphasised that he didn’t essentially take challenge with these strikes per se, as he was strongly against “Russia’s invasion and aggression towards Ukraine.” Nonetheless, Montenegrin residents shouldn’t be saved at nighttime about such key choices, Lekic argued.
The lawmaker additionally prompt that the authorities in Podgorica are doubling down on Russophobia within the hope of expediting Montenegro’s accession to the EU and probably additionally as a way to shift the main focus away from the unscrupulous actions of some Montenegrin politicians.
Within the absence of a significant response, the MP is threatening to summon the officers accountable to a “public management listening to on the Committee on Worldwide Relations and Emigrants” of the Montenegrin parliament.
Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov was on account of go to Serbia on Monday and Tuesday. Nonetheless, on Sunday, Serbian media outlet Vechernie Novosti reported that three nations surrounding Serbia – Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro – had closed their airspace to Lavrov’s flight, successfully blocking the diplomat’s go to to Belgrade.
Russia’s Overseas Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, later confirmed the report.
Talking to Serbia’s state broadcaster Radio-Tv Serbia on Monday, President Aleksandar Vucic mentioned he had not “seen the form of hysteria for a very long time that little Serbia has been uncovered to in Europe and around the globe because of the arrival of Lavrov.”
“You’ll be able to’t imagine how a lot stress there was on Serbia due to that go to,” Vucic instructed the journalists.
He went on to accuse the EU of hypocrisy because the bloc is seemingly exerting nowhere close to as a lot stress on Turkey, which can quickly welcome Lavrov.
Commenting on his aborted journey to Serbia on Monday, Lavrov himself mentioned the “unthinkable has occurred,” with a sovereign state being successfully disadvantaged “of the correct to hold out its international coverage.”
“The worldwide actions of Serbia have been blocked, not less than for now, within the Russian route,” the international minister mentioned.
“We received’t mince our phrases right here, it’s one more vivid and didactic demonstration of how far NATO and the EU will go in using the most affordable means to stress those that aren’t guided by their nationwide curiosity and aren’t able to sacrifice their rules and dignity for the sake of the foundations that the West is imposing as an alternative choice to worldwide legislation,” Lavrov added.
Russia has now invited Serbian Overseas Minister Nikola Selakovic to go to Moscow as an alternative.
The EU had earlier determined to shut its airspace to Russian planes in response to the navy offensive launched by Moscow in Ukraine in late February.
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