The head of the Montenegrin parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, Miodrag Lekic, has criticized the lack of transparency around a decision to close the Balkan state’s airspace to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday.
The move, which was supported by Bulgaria and North Macedonia, derailed the Russian diplomat’s planned visit to Serbia.
In his statement on Monday, quoted by local media outlets, the lawmaker questioned “whether and at which session a Montenegrin state body decided not to allow the Russian foreign minister to fly over our territory.” The MP noted that diplomatic contacts remain in place between Russia and EU member states, as well as Turkey, which – like Montenegro – aspires to join the European bloc. A “technical precondition” for such contacts is uninterrupted flights for top officials, he said.
He proceeded to question whether the “Montenegrin authorities make decisions autonomously” or first consult the EU and NATO, or even “receive impetus from third parties.” The MP emphasized that he did not necessarily take issue with those moves per se, as he was strongly opposed to “Russia’s invasion and aggression against Ukraine.” However, Montenegrin citizens should not be kept in the dark about such key decisions, Lekic argued.