The OSCE is not the only international body where the West and Russia meet. Lavrov still attends Group of 20 events around the world and the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's annual foreign ministers' meeting on Thursday has split member states, with Baltic nations and Ukraine refusing to attend over the presence of Russia's Sergei Lavrov and urging others to as well.

Russia said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s plane had to change its route to reach a European security summit in North Macedonia after Bulgaria refused to allow it to cross its airspace.

Russia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it had received a lot of requests for one-on-one meetings with Sergei Lavrov, Moscow's top diplomat, on the sidelines of an OSCE meeting in North Macedonia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has arrived in the North Macedonian capital for the OSCE ministerial meeting via Greece, not Bulgaria - allegedly because of Sofia's decision that the overflight permit did not apply to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Bulgaria has officially confirmed that it will open its airspace for Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is set to lead a Russian delegation flying to the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,