Slovak PM Fico takes circuitous route to Russia after Baltics close airspace

(Reuters) - Slovakia's prime minister embarked on a circuitous route to Moscow on Thursday to attend Russia's World War 2 victory parade after Lithuania shut its airspace to flights carrying him to the event and other Baltic nations imposed similar restrictions.

Robert Fico, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in December, is the only European Union leader planning to attend the May 9 celebrations in Moscow, which will feature a parade attended by more than two dozen foreign dignitaries, including Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to the AirNav web site, the government plane took off from Bratislava airport on Thursday afternoon and was expected to land in Moscow around 9:30 p.m. local time (1930 GMT). The flight was expected to cross over Hungary, Romania, the Black Sea, Georgia and then into Russia's Dagestan.

Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda said on Wednesday his country had closed its airspace to flights carrying Fico and President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, which is not in the EU, to Moscow.

Aircraft travelling between Russia and Europe have typically used Lithuanian airspace since European carriers were told in 2021 to avoid the shorter route via Belarus as part of punitive measures against Minsk in response to it scrambling a warplane to force the landing of a Ryanair flight.

Ukrainian airspace, another shorter route, has been closed since 2022 due to Russia's invasion.

Latvia has said it will not allow any flights to the parade but did not specifically mention the Slovak leader, while officials in Estonia -- which is not on any obvious flight path -- said it had not been asked for a flyover.

'COMPLICATING OUR SCHEDULE'

"Estonia has told us it will not allow us to fly over its territory, despite Slovakia having an all-year permission for the government fleet to use Estonian airspace," Fico said on his Facebook page.

"This is exceptionally complicating our schedule...,"he added.

Fico is also scheduled to take part in bilateral meetings and attend a wreath laying ceremony while in Moscow.

His plans to travel to Moscow underline his willingness to defy Brussels after the European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, this week urged EU leaders not to take part in Russia's military celebrations.

Slovakia is heavily reliant on Russian gas supplies and Fico, in power since 2023, has overseen a foreign policy shift that his critics say moves the country too close to Moscow.

(Reporting by Michael Kahn in Prague, additional reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague, Barbara Erling in Warsaw and Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Gareth Jones)