Since most Russian planes fly to Syria over the Caucasus and Iran, the closed airspace over Bulgaria and Greece will not have a significant meaning for Russia, he noted. "In general, yesterday’s statement on Greece arose a kind of a smile because everyone knows that Russian planes have been bypassing Ukraine, so that is why it is impossible to fly over Greece on any occasion. Planes heading for the Middle East follow the route Moscow-Transcaucasia-Turkey-Iran, and you cannot get there through Greece," Dzhabarov said.
The official dismissed allegations made by Western countries that Russia may send military cargoes to Syria under the guise of humanitarian aid. "They are humanitarian cargoes," he stressed.
Dzharabov said it is regrettable that the United States made efforts to prevent Russian planes with humanitarian aid for Syria from flying over the Balkans. "It is better to provide assistance at the spot so that people stay there than to create migration problems for Europe," he said. "The fact that Bulgaria was the first to respond [to US request] will be on their conscience," he noted.
Bulgaria’s decision to close airspace for Russian planes undermines bilateral relations
Sofia’s decision to close its airspace for Russian cargo planes with humanitarian aid for Syria undermined Russian-Bulgarian relations, State Duma’s Committee on International Affairs first deputy chairman Leonid Kalashnikov said on Tuesday."From the point of view of bilateral relations, this decision is just outrageous. It is not even about reciprocal measures that Russia will in any case take against Bulgaria. It will undermine our future relations whenever they improve," Kalashnikov said.
Sofia’s decision represents "fulfillment of master’s demands by a vassal," he said. "The United States is probably trying to close the airspace for us to fly to the Middle East. Someone stands their ground, like Greece, and such weaklings as Bulgaria, whom we defended against Turkish invaders some time ago, do not remember any good," he added.
Bulgaria closes airspace for Russian planes heading to Syria
Bulgaria has earlier closed its airspace to Russian cargo planes with relief aid for Syria. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has confirmed earlier reports by Greek mass media to this effect. "A corresponding notification was sent in response to Russia’s request last weekend," Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Betina Zhoteva told TASS."We denied permission to let Russian military-transport planes cross Bulgarian territory because on the basis of the available information we have reasonable doubts the cargoes are not the declared ones. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry made that decision of its own accord," Zhoteva said.
Greece earlier received a request from the United States to close its air space for Russian aircraft making flights to Syria with humanitarian cargoes.
On Monday, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov it was too early provide any comment on the United States’ request to Greece to close its air space for Russian aircraft making humanitarian flights to Syria.
"There was a corresponding statement by our Greek partners who said they were considering this request," the Kremlin spokesman said. "It is too early to speak about that until we have any reaction.".
[http://tass.ru/en/russia/819613]
8/9/15
--
-
Related:
Rusia nunca ocultó envíos militares a Siria para la lucha antiterrorista
Bulgaria has denied a Russian request to use its airspace for supply flights to Syria due to serious concerns about the cargo on the planes, the Bulgarian foreign ministry's spokeswoman said on Tuesday...
- According to a Greek government spokesperson, Russia no longer needs access to the Greek airspace to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria, Reuters reported...
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
Rumors that Russia is stepping up its military presence in Syria are "fabricated by intelligence agencies of the West and some Arab countries," Syria’s Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi told the Lebanese TV channel Al-Manar. Excerpts from this interview have been quoted by the SANA news agency on Tuesday...
ReplyDeleteAccording to the minister, "this hostile campaign is aimed at creating the impression that the Syrian state has become so weak that it has to seek direct military assistance from its friends."
"Our relations with Russians, including in the military sphere, have been developing for a long time. However, there are no Russian troops in Syria. Russia conducts no military activities on land, at sea or in the air," al-Zoubi said.
http://tass.ru/en/world/819638
Отказът на България да предостави въздушен коридор за руски самолети, превозващи хуманитарни товари за Сирия, няма голямо значение, тъй като Русия използва предимно други маршрути, каза пред ТАСС Владимир Джабаров, заместник-председател на комисията по външните работи при Съвета на Федерацията, горната камара на руския парламент....
ReplyDeleteТой обърна внимание, че правата за прелитане над България и Гърция нямат голямо значение за Русия, защото повечето самолети летят за Сирия през Задкавказието и Иран.............dnes.bg
8/9/15
Moscow Tuesday demanded answers from ???Greece??? and Bulgaria after Sofia banned Russian supply flights to Syria from its airspace and Athens said it had been asked by Washington to do the same....
ReplyDelete"If anyone - in this case our Greek and Bulgarian partners - has any doubts, then they, of course, should explain what the problem is," deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the Interfax news agency.
"If we are talking about them taking some sort of restrictive or prohibitive measures on the Americans' request, then this raises questions about their sovereign right to take decisions about planes from other countries - Russia in particular - crossing their air space," he said.
"We explain where our planes are flying to, and what their purpose and their cargo is," he added.
He said that ferrying cargo, which included humanitarian and military aid, through the airspace of a third party - as well as obtaining permission to do so - should be a routine procedure.
"We've never had any problems before," he said............Agence France Presse
Moscow is waiting for explanations from Sofia following the closure of the Bulgarian airspace for Russian transport planes carrying humanitarian aid to war-torn Syria, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday...
DeleteMOSCOW (Sputnik) — Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry confirmed earlier on Tuesday that it had banned Russian military transport planes carrying supplies to Syria from entering the country's airspace until September 24, citing concerns over "the purpose of the flights and the cargo."
Peskov stressed that Moscow would not comment on Bulgaria's claims that the supplies could be of military nature.
The Greek Kathimerini newspaper said earlier in the day that Sofia’s decision would force Moscow to re-route its supply deliveries to Syria through Iran.
Greece itself is under pressure from the United States to restrict its airspace to Russian aircraft traveling to Syria.
On Saturday, the US embassy appealed to Athens with a request to prohibit the flights of Russian aircraft providing aid to Syria, however, Greece refused to do so, a source told RIA Novosti.
http://sptnkne.ws/GVx