Latvia and Lithuania will not let Slovak premier use their airspace to travel to May 9 celebrations in Moscow

RIGA - Latvia and Lithuania will not let Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico use their airspace to travel to Moscow for Russia's May 9 celebrations, Slovak portal SME reports.

"Lithuania and Latvia have already announced that they will not allow us to fly through their territories during the flight to Moscow," Fico said in a video address.

"Why? Member states of the European Union do not allow the prime minister of another member state of the European Union to fly to these territories," Fico said, criticizing the decision.

"I will definitely find another route as I did last year when we were torpedoed by Estonia," Fico said.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna confirmed that Estonia will again this year deny Fico permission to fly over Estonia to Russia to attend the May 9 parade in Moscow.

"Fico will not be granted permission to use Estonian airspace for a flight to the May 9 parade in Moscow this year either, a parade whose purpose is to glorify the aggressor. We denied this last year, and the same principle applies now," the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs quoted Tsahkna as saying.

Tsahkna added that the stance is clear: no country may use Estonian airspace to strengthen relations with Russia at a time when Russia continues to disregard international norms.