Slovak Prime Minister alleges deliberate attempt to derail his Moscow visit
Photo: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Getty Images)
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has claimed that attempts are being made to derail his visit to Moscow. According to him, a delayed flight has disrupted plans for bilateral meetings, the Prime Minister stated on his Facebook page.
In his statement, Fico said that "a few minutes ago," he received a message from Estonia informing him that his plane would not be allowed to fly through its airspace en route to Moscow.
"Of course, this is a deliberate attempt to scuttle my visit to Moscow. It seriously disrupts our entire schedule - we will not be able to attend the planned meetings tomorrow evening," the Prime Minister said.
He assured that he was doing everything possible to reach Moscow and "participate in four extremely important bilateral meetings."
It is worth noting that, according to the latest reports, Fico’s visit does not include attendance at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day parade.
Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9
A large-scale parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II will be held in Moscow on May 9. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has invited several foreign leaders to attend the event.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić was expected to take part in the ceremony, but he unexpectedly fell ill and had to cut short his visit to the United States, where he had been scheduled to meet with Donald Trump.
After abruptly returning from the US, Vučić was hospitalized.
It was also reported today that Latvia and Lithuania have banned Vučić’s plane from entering their airspace en route to Russia.
Later, Estonia followed suit, closing its airspace to aircraft heading to Moscow for the Victory Day parade.
