North Macedonia To Temporarily Lift Flight Ban For Russian Foreign Minister

North Macedonia will temporarily lift its ban on flights from Russia to allow Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to attend an international conference in the country.

Skopje, North Macedonia - NATO member North Macedonia announced on Friday that it would temporarily lift its ban on flights from Russia for a brief period next week. This decision was made to enable Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to attend an international conference in the country, should he accept the invitation.

Brief Window for Flights

According to a government statement, the window for flights from Russia to North Macedonia will be open from November 29 to December 1. During this time, Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, will host a meeting of foreign ministers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

OSCE and the Russian Delegation

Russia is one of the 57 member states of the OSCE, an organization established during the Cold War to ease tensions between the East and the West. North Macedonia currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the OSCE. Most European countries, however, imposed a ban on flights from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Whether Lavrov will accept the invitation extended by North Macedonia's Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, which was sent last week, remains uncertain. If he does, the government statement indicated that North Macedonia's foreign and defense ministries would need to issue additional permits for the visit.

Precedence for Brief Flight Ban Suspension

The statement emphasized that the temporary suspension of the flight ban is not unprecedented, particularly in the context of international conferences. For the Russian delegation to reach North Macedonia, which is a small, landlocked country in the Balkans, they would need to fly through the airspace of other NATO or European Union member states, which would require special permission.

Lavrov's Limited Travel Since the War in Ukraine

With the exception of Belarus, a close ally of Moscow, Lavrov has not visited any European countries since the war in Ukraine began. However, he has traveled to NATO member Turkey, which does not have a ban on Russian flights, as well as the United States, where he attended meetings at the UN headquarters.

In March last year, Lavrov was denied permission to fly to Geneva for a United Nations conference due to the flight ban imposed by European Union members on Russian aircraft. This ban was part of extensive sanctions against Moscow. In a video address to the UN session, Lavrov condemned the move as "outrageous" and accused the EU countries of attempting to avoid direct dialogue and contacts aimed at finding political solutions to pressing international issues.

Increased Diplomatic Pressure on Russia Expected

In October, Osmani stated that Moscow could anticipate increased diplomatic pressure from the OSCE during the coming months, as North Macedonia holds the presidency of the organization until December 31. The OSCE chairmanship rotates among its member states.

The temporary lifting of the flight ban for Lavrov's potential attendance at the OSCE conference in Skopje reflects the balancing act that North Macedonia, as a NATO member, must navigate in maintaining relations with both Russia and its Western allies.