Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Latvia and Lithuania will not allow his plane to use their airspace for a flight to Moscow to attend the Victory Day military parade on May 9.
In a video address posted on Facebook, Fico said Lithuania and Latvia had informed him they would not permit his plane to fly through their territory on the way to Moscow, but that he would find another route, as he did last year, according to the Slovak news outlet Teraz.
Fico announced in early April that he planned to travel to Moscow for Victory Day. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov had said that several foreign leaders were planning to come to Russia for May 9.
In 2025, leaders of 27 countries attended the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, including China, Belarus, Cuba, Venezuela, Serbia, and Slovakia.
Latvia and Estonia had also refused to allow Fico’s plane through on that occasion. His aircraft flew a longer route — through Hungary, Romania, the Black Sea, and Georgia.
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