Did Bulgaria deny Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov permission to fly over its airspace to attend the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in North Macedonia, which took place on November 30 and December 1, 2023? No, that's not true: Bulgaria granted an exception to the EU sanctions against Lavrov, allowing his plane to fly over its airspace for a limited number of hours so that he would be able to reach North Macedonia's capital Skopje for the meeting. The temporary permission, though, did not extend to other sanctioned members of Lavrov's delegation, such as Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zacharova. Lavrov's plane ended up flying over Greece instead, as Zacharova was on board.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published on November 30, 2023, with the following caption, translated from Bulgarian to English by Lead Stories staff:
Another blunder for Bulgaria! Lavrov's plane was banned from flying over Bulgaria! And despite everything, he still landed in Macedonia!
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Dec 5 18:19:51 2023 UTC)
Here is another example (archived here) of the claim on Facebook on November 30, 2023, with the following caption (as translated from Bulgarian to English by Lead Stories staff):
Bulgaria refused to allow the plane of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to fly through our airspace. The plane was forced to fly over Greece to take Lavrov to a meeting of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) foreign ministers taking place in Skopje, North Macedonia. Hey, aren't we smart, it's unbelievable, and the Greeks are so dummy. That is why we surpass them in everything.
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Dec 5 19:00:11 2023 UTC)
The last OSCE meeting was the 30th OSCE Ministerial Council, and took place in Skopje, North Macedonia, on November 30 and December 1, 2023. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was invited to attend the meeting, but his presence caused controversy and boycotts from some OSCE member nations, including Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry permission allowing Lavrov's plane to cross Bulgaria's airspace en route to North Macedonia's capital was announced late on November 27, 2023, followed by its English version on the following day:
(Source: BTA screenshot taken on Tue Dec 8 18:44:13 2023 UTC)
The permission came at the request of North Macedonia, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the OSCE. Bulgaria granted permission for the overflight of Lavrov's plane through its airspace for three hours before and 72 hours after the scheduled date and time of the flight. Conditions applied, though, as the permission did not extend to other sanctioned members of Lavrov's delegation, among which Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Bulgarian Foreign Ministry's announcement that Sofia would give the go-ahead to Lavrov's plane was followed by a statement by the Ambassador of Russia in Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova, acknowledging it and confirming that Bulgaria had opened its airspace for the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the Republic of North Macedonia.
Zakharova, afterwards, accused Bulgaria of denying access to its airspace, adding she was the reason why Bulgaria had refused to grant permission and accused the country of "malicious stupidity" and "Russophobia." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Bulgaria's position "absurd and stupid" and suggested that Russia could apply similar overflight bans to "thousands of NATO functionaries."
Bulgaria's restriction of access to other members of Lavrov's delegation had been made clear, though, before Russian Ambassador Mitrofanova acknowledged the "positive response" from Bulgarian authorities.
In the end, Lavrov's plane took a longer route over Greece to reach Skopje on November 29, 2023.
