Lavrov's visit to Geneva canceled after his plane banned from using EU airspace - Russian embassy

MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Geneva has been cancelled after his airplane was banned from using the airspace of several European Union countries, the Russian embassy to Switzerland said.

"Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov's visit to Geneva to attend a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council and the Disarmament Conference has been cancelled because of an unprecedented ban on his plane's flight through the airspace of EU countries," the Russian embassy said in a statement.

The Foreign Ministry said that it had "contacted the UN Secretariat, but to no avail."

"The administration of this world organization proved to be unable to ensure the participation of the Russian delegation led by the foreign minister of Russia in the meetings of the Disarmament Commission and the Human Rights Council, the events organized by the UN Secretariat itself," the ministry said.

As reported earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was supposed to visit Geneva on February 28-March 1 to attend the UN Human Rights Council's high-level segment and a disarmament conference.

The program of Lavrov's visit to Geneva included a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and a series of bilateral meetings with his foreign colleagues.