Lithuania and Latvia will not allow Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to use their airspace for a planned trip to Moscow in May for Russia’s Victory Day commemorations, Fico said Saturday.
“Lithuania and Latvia have already announced that they will not allow us to fly over their territories on the way to Moscow,” Fico said in a statement cited by The Kyiv Independent.
Fico criticised the decision, questioning why European Union member states would deny overflight to the prime minister of another EU country.
The Slovak leader attended Victory Day events in Moscow last year despite calls from European officials, including EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, to boycott the ceremony.
“I will certainly find another route, as I did last year when Estonia torpedoed us,” Fico said.
Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, said his country would again deny airspace access to officials traveling to Moscow for the May 9 parade.
All three Baltic states took similar measures last year in solidarity with Ukraine.
“Fico will not be granted permission to use Estonian airspace for a flight to Moscow for the May 9 parade, an event aimed at glorifying the aggressor,” Tsahkna said in a statement. “We did this last year, and the same principle applies now.”
He added that Estonia’s position is unequivocal: no country should use its airspace to strengthen ties with Russia while it continues to violate international norms and wage war against Ukraine and European security.
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