Fico is angry that three EU countries do not allow him to fly over, which he perceives as attempts to thwart his visit to Moscow

Bratislava – Estonia will not allow the Slovak government special flight with Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to fly over its territory. The Prime Minister described this in a statement on social media as a deliberate attempt to thwart his visit to Moscow. Meanwhile, Latvia and Lithuania have also confirmed that they will not allow foreign leaders to fly through their airspace on their way to Moscow for the Victory Day celebrations on May 9, TASR reports according to DPA.

 “This severely disrupts our entire program, complicates things, because we are no longer able to meet the agreed scheduled deadlines tomorrow evening, May 8, in Moscow,” he said. Nevertheless, according to him, the protocol is doing everything possible to find an alternative route that will ensure they can participate in the laying of wreaths at the tomb of the unknown soldier on Friday morning (May 9) and subsequently attend four “extremely important” bilateral meetings.

Fico pointed out that Estonia will not allow them to fly over its territory despite the fact that Slovakia has a year-round permit to use Estonia’s airspace for the Slovak government fleet. “Of course, this is a deliberate attempt to thwart my visit to Moscow on the occasion of the official celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II,” he added.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated on Thursday that “the use of Estonian airspace for a flight to Moscow for the May 9 parade is out of the question and Estonia has no intention of supporting this event in any way,” and clarified that Tallinn denied permission for overflight to Cuban and Brazilian flights with important individuals on board.

Lithuania also denied two government aircraft the use of its airspace. President Gitanas Nauséda confirmed media reports that they did not grant permission for overflight to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. According to Nauséda, the decision is based on security reasons. Similarly, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it cannot grant diplomatic permissions for overflight for flights allowing participation in the event in Moscow on May 9.

On Wednesday in Bratislava, Fico reminded that during his visit to Moscow, in addition to meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he is also scheduled to have bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, To Lam.

The Slovak opposition on Wednesday again called on Robert Fico to cancel his planned trip to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Moscow in the interest of Slovakia. Representatives of the opposition parties PS, SaS, KDH, and the extra-parliamentary Democrats stated at a joint press conference that they perceive this step as a disgrace and another breach of the bottom of Slovak foreign policy, which is “a path to losing the trust of our partners and allies.” According to their statement, Fico is not going to Moscow to represent Slovakia, but his own interests. (May 7)