Russia Says It Knew of Bulgaria Ban on Syria-Bound Planes

Russia was informed over the weekend of Bulgaria's decision not to give clearance to Russian planes loaded with humanitarian aid for Syria, Moscow's Embassy in Sofia has said.

"An official notice arrived to us back in the weekend," Interfax quotes Evgeniya Suslova, press officer at the Russian Embassy, as saying.

Suslova, however, did not explicitly mention a date when the message was received.

On Tuesday Bulgaria, shortly after announcing it hadn't allowed the planes to overfly, explained it had been provided with information that the two aircraft were transporting weapons, instead of humanitarian aid.

Deputy Defense Minister Dimitar Kyumyurdzhiev on Wednesday reiterated other officials' stance that no pressure whatsoever had been applied on Bulgaria to ban the supply flights from crossing its airspace.

Russia, on the other hand, maintains the move had been dictated and that Bulgaria was acting as a "vassal" to the United States, which was "probably trying to close the airspace for [Moscow] to fly to the Middle East," in the words of a Russian MP quoted by Russia's TASS. 

probably trying to close the airspace for us to fly to the Middle East," - See more at: http://www.novinite.com/articles/170732/Russian+MPs+Slam+Bulgaria+for+Ov...

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