Bulgaria to allow Putin’s plane to fly through its airspace for meeting with Trump in Budapest
Bulgaria will allow Vladimir Putin’s plane to fly through its airspace for a planned meeting with Donald Trump in Budapest at the end of the month. This was announced by Foreign Minister Georgi Georgiev, Euractive reports.
“When efforts are made to achieve peace, and if the condition for this is to hold such a meeting, then the most logical thing is for such a meeting to be organized by all possible means. How can a meeting be held if one of the participants cannot come to it?” Georgiev explained to journalists on the sidelines of the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
At the same time, the minister clarified that Moscow has not yet submitted a request for Putin’s plane to fly over the territory of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria does not share a border with Hungary, but both countries border Serbia, which has close historical ties with Moscow. A flight through Bulgaria would significantly shorten the route to Budapest. The only other option that does not involve crossing EU or Ukrainian airspace includes a route over the Mediterranean Sea, Montenegro or Albania, and then through Serbia.
Bulgaria and Hungary remain members of the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Putin for the deportation of Ukrainian children. Meanwhile, Hungary announced in April that it would withdraw from the ISS, which will legally take effect in June 2026.
The EU’s top diplomat, Kaia Kallas, along with a number of Eastern European countries, criticized the planned meeting due to the absence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. At the same time, ministers from several Western EU countries, including the Netherlands, Germany and France, have expressed preliminary support for the initiative. The meeting is expected to be another in-person summit between Trump and Putin, following their talks in Alaska in August.
