LATAKIA, Syria, Sept. 8 (UPI) — Bulgaria refused Russian aircraft permission to cross its airspace late last week, amid fears that Russia had been boosting its military support to Syria.
“The planes were said to carry humanitarian aid but we had information — that we had every reason to trust — that the declared cargo was not the real one,” said Betina Zhoteva. She said the decision to deny the Russian aircraft permission was taken but did not give details about how many planes were involved, BBC News reported.
Vladimir Djabarov, the vice-president of Russia’s foreign affairs council, disputed Zhoteva’s charge. The aircraft contained only “humanitarian cargo. [It is] not profitable to transport weapons by plane,” he said.
Such an “unfriendly” move will not be forgotten, and Russia will find an “adequate” response, added Nikolay Levichev, a Russian politician.
“With such a decision — whatever has forced it — the Bulgarian leadership has joined the camp of adversaries of the existing system of international relations.” Closing airspace to planes carrying humanitarian aid to war-torn Syria was “an inhuman and clearly short-sighted act.”
Russian media reported that Moscow sent over 20 tons of humanitarian aid, including tinned meat, fish and milk, sugar and blankets to the city of Latakia. In May, the city received 21.5 tons of supplies from Russia, a key ally and client of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the four-year civil war.
According to various estimates the death toll in Syria has approached 300,000, while about half the pre-war population of 22 million has been uprooted.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his “shame” and “anger” at the international community’s “impotence to stop the war” in Syria, and said the United Nations’ credibility had suffered as a result.
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