Russia will deliver humanitarian aid to Syria bypassing Bulgaria — Kremlin

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/. Russia will use alternative routes to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria after Bulgaria closed its airspace for Russian planes with such cargo, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday.

Answering a question on whether Moscow will agree for Bulgarian authorities to inspect the planes, Peskov said: "Russian Foreign Ministry already noted that there are alternative routes for delivering humanitarian aid that will be used."

Earlier today Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov also confirmed this. "Of course, alternative routes will be found," he said but did not specify what countries Russian planes with humanitarian cargo will fly over.

"I regret that under Washington’s pressure and probably under Brussels’ pressure where headquarters of NATO and EU are located, several countries move away from what I will call their international duty, that is providing air corridors for planes that deal with solving humanitarian issues," Ryabkov stressed.

Bulgaria has earlier closed its airspace to Russian cargo planes with relief aid for Syria. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has confirmed earlier reports by Greek mass media to this effect. "A corresponding notification was sent in response to Russia’s request last weekend," Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Betina Zhoteva told TASS.

"We denied permission to let Russian military-transport planes cross Bulgarian territory because on the basis of the available information we have reasonable doubts the cargoes are not the declared ones. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry made that decision of its own accord," Zhoteva said.

Greece earlier received a request from the United States to close its air space for Russian aircraft making flights to Syria with humanitarian cargoes.