Lavrov’s visit to Serbia canceled as his plane blocked to enter Belgrade

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Serbia has been canceled as countries around Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Bulgaria,  closed their airspace to his aircraft, Moscow confirmed international reports on Monday.

Lavrov was scheduled to visit Belgrade between June 6 -7 and hold talks with President Aleksandar Vucic.

It would have been the first visit of a high-ranking Russian official to Serbia since the latter invaded Ukraine back in February.

Last Sunday, Belgrade announced a new three-year gas supply contract with Russia.

The deal was likely to have been signed during Lavrov’s visit.

Belgrade’s current 10-year gas supply contract with Russian Gazprom expires this week.