Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have refused Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico overflight permission to journey to Russia for World Warfare II commemorations in Could.
“Fico will as soon as once more not obtain permission to make use of Estonian airspace for a flight to Moscow to attend the 9 Could parade,” Estonia’s Overseas Minister Margus Tsahkna introduced on Sunday, calling the commemorations “an occasion geared toward glorifying the aggressor.”
In a video posted to Fb on Saturday, Fico mentioned Latvia and Lithuania had refused him permission to make use of their airspace. No official affirmation from Riga or Vilnius was initially out there.
Every year on Could 9, Russia celebrates Victory Day, commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the tip of World Warfare II in Europe.
The Baltic states bordering Russia additionally closed their airspace final yr to leaders travelling to Moscow for the commemorations final yr, together with Fico – who together with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić was one of many solely European company.
Fico had already introduced his intention to journey to the commemorative occasion in Moscow once more this yr. In a Fb submit two weeks in the past, he mentioned he deliberate to attend three worldwide occasions, in addition to the customary wreath-laying on the Slavin conflict memorial in Bratislava.
The primary of those can be the focus camp memorial in Dachau, for which he has not but given a date. Moscow is to observe on Could 9, then Normandy in June to commemorate D-Day, the Allied touchdown on the French coast in June 1944.
He needed “to pay his respects to all those that fought in opposition to fascism, and to those that fell sufferer to it and needed to endure unimaginable struggling,” Fico mentioned within the video.
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The Slovak chief has repeatedly criticized Western states prior to now for not taking part within the commemorations in Moscow and referred to as for a separation between present conflicts and joint remembrance.
No overflight for Moscow’s buddies
Tsahkna mentioned no nation needs to be allowed to make use of Estonian airspace to strengthen relations with Russia so long as Moscow continues to flout worldwide norms and persists with its aggression in opposition to Ukraine.
Estonia and the opposite two Baltic states are shut companions of Ukraine, which has been defending itself in opposition to a full-scale Russian invasion for greater than 4 years.
Throughout World Warfare II, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been occupied alternately by the Soviet Union and Germany.
After the conflict ended, they remained a part of the Soviet Union till 1991. Most Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians don’t due to this fact view Could 9 as a day of victory over Nazi Germany, however as the start of the renewed occupation of their homelands by the Soviet Union.
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