Russia Voices Fury About Cancelling of Lavrov Visit to Serbia

Following days of uncertainty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Serbia was cancelled on Monday after countries around Serbia closed their airspace to his aircraft - a move that that Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova described as "another closed channel of communication"

Zakharova confirmed a report by Reuters news agency that Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro closed their airspace to the plane that would have carried Moscow's top diplomat to Serbia, the only European country that refuses to impose sanctions on Russia.

"The Russian delegation was supposed to arrive in Belgrade for talks. EU member states and NATO have closed the airspace, closed another channel of communication," Zakharova said, Russian news agency Sputnik reported.

She accused the EU of seeking to isolate Russia.

"There will ultimately be no iron curtains from us, you don't have to worry. The EU is the one that is closing off Russia with a curtain," she said.

On June 2, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that complications had arisen with Lavrov's planned visit to Belgrade.

The situation was particularly uncomfortable for Serbia, an EU membership candidate country, because three days after the announced Lavrov visit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was scheduled to arrive in Serbia.

Asked whether it would, be "bad news" if the German chancellor did not come to Belgrade because of Lavrov's visit, Vucic said that it would, but hoped that such an outcome would be avoided.

The Serbian president noted that according to an opinion survey, 77 per cent of Serbian people are against imposing sanctions on Russia. He said that Serbia condemns what is happening in Ukraine, but that it "does not believe in...