The EU member Bulgaria has given permission to use its airspace for a plane carrying Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the North Macedonian capital of Skopje, as the official has been scheduled to participate in the meeting of foreign ministers of the OSCE member states.

EU member states closed their airspace to Russian aircraft after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

The Bulgarian service of Radio Liberty cited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying that the entry of Lavrov's plane into Bulgarian airspace had been decided on the basis of an exception, at the request of North Macedonia, the current chair of the OSCE, the host of the ministerial meeting.

The 30th session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the OSCE member states will start in Skopje on November 30. North Macedonia is the first NATO member state where Lavrov will visit after the start of the war in Ukraine.