Sofia tells Moscow Russian military transport aircraft were banned from flying over Bulgaria as early as last weekend - Russian embassy to Bulgaria
SOFIA/MOSCOW. Sept 8 (Interfax) - The Bulgarian authorities notified Russia as early as last weekend of their decision not to allow Russian military transport aircraft carrying humanitarian aid for Syria to fly over Bulgarian territory during the period from September 1 to 24, the Russian Embassy to Bulgaria said.
"We received the formal notice over the weekend," embassy spokeswoman Yevgeniya Suslova told Interfax by phone, without saying the exact day the notice was received.
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry earlier announced its refusal to provide airspace for the Russian military transport aircraft carrying humanitarian aid to Syria in September.
"The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry confirms that the Russian military transport aircraft have been banned from flying to Syria through Bulgarian airspace from September 1 to 24, 2015," Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Velislava Panova told Interfax.
"The reason for the refusal is the information contained in the Russian requests for flights over Bulgaria being inconsistent with the purposes of these flights and their cargo," the ministry said.