The Ukrainian Association opposes Lavrov’s arrival in Skopje

The Association of Ukrainians in North Macedonia, “Lesya Ukrainka”, has expressed its dissatisfaction with the announced visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Skopje.

He is due to attend a meeting of ministers of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which will take place in the capital of North Macedonia from 29 November to 1 December.

“Although the government claims that Sergei Lavrov’s arrival in Skopje will not mark his arrival for a bilateral visit to the country, but to an OSCE host country, we still consider it important that, in whatever capacity he comes, he is leading the institution of a terrorist state that has been destroying peaceful settlements and committing genocide against the Ukrainian population on a daily basis for almost two years now, reads the written response of “Lesya Ukrainka”.

Despite the fact that “Lesya Ukrainka” says that it appreciates Macedonia’s support for Ukraine so far, they add that they find “incomprehensible and unacceptable the argument that Lavrov will come to the country because North Macedonia holds the OSCE chairmanship”.

Earlier, Ukraine, as well as the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, had announced that they would boycott the summit precisely because of Lavrov’s arrival.

Lavrov’s arrival was questionable, as most countries in Europe closed their airspace to Russian aircraft following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, North Macedonia decided to make an exception and allowed the Russian delegation to arrive by plane, and Bulgaria also gave a one-off permission for a Russian plane to fly over.

Lavrov had previously stated that he would come to Skopje if Bulgaria opened its airspace./RSE/