Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, who is preparing a large OSCE summit in Skopje next week, confirmed that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be allowed to come to Macedonia.

It will be a rare visit to a NATO member state for the head of the Russian diplomacy. The Government empowered Osmani to determine whether he will break the ban on Russian flights to Macedonia and allow Lavrov’s jet to bring him and the Russian delegation to the summit that will also include US Secretary of State Blinken.

Osmani insisted that Lavrov will come to an OSCE summit and not for a visit to Macedonia. It is also not clear whether Lavrov will attend the same informal dinner that Blinken will attend.

I would oppose this request as a Foreign Minister. But Lavrov is not coming to a visit to the country, he comes to visit the country that chairs OSCE. The Government empowered us to make this decision and if we decide we will allow him to come, will ask the Defense Ministry to allow the plane to land, Osmani said.