Zaspykin Surprised at Russian Request: It Was not passed to the Embassy in Lebanon
Russian ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin expressed astonishment at the recent Russian request to divert air routes from Lebanon stressing that he had “no information on the subject,” al-Joumhouria daily said on Saturday.
Zaspykin said that he was totally surprised by Russia's request that Lebanon ensures that flights from Beirut airport avoid an area over the eastern Mediterranean for the next three days.
“I have no information about the issue. I was surprised,” said Zaspykin.
On Friday, Russia has asked Lebanese authorities that planes leaving Beirut airport towards the west avoid overflying an area in Mediterranean territorial waters because of maneuvers on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
The ambassador added: “I only knew about the new measures when I read it over the internet. The decision was not passed to the Russian embassy in Beirut.”
He strongly denounced the act which he described as “strange and totally shrouded in mystery.”
The ambassador stressed that he “has not been officially notified by Russian officials pointing out that he had sought for clarifications about it.”
On Saturday, flights in and out of Lebanon were being forced to take longer routes, with some airlines canceling services after Moscow's request.
Lebanese Transport Minister Ghazi Zoaiter said Moscow requested "that planes leaving Beirut airport towards the west avoid overflying an area in Mediterranean territorial waters because of manoeuvres on Saturday, Sunday and Monday."
There was no confirmation from Moscow of the request, but a Lebanese airport official later said that departing flights would be directed to first fly south over Sidon and Sarafand to "keep them away from the perimeter of the manoeuvres."
Lebanon's national carrier Middle East Airlines acknowledged the rerouting in a statement, saying its flights would be mostly on time but "some flights to the Gulf and the Middle East region might take (a) longer time due to a slight change in airways."
Kuwait Airways said it was suspending its Beirut flights "as a precautionary measure" but most other flights were arriving and leaving normally.
Turkey's Dogan news agency said two Turkish Airlines services to Beirut on Friday night were cancelled for "security reasons" due to the Russian request, but its Saturday flights were operating regularly.
Source: Naharnet
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