Bulgaria offers to check Syria-bound Russian aircraft

Bulgaria said Wednesday it would allow Syria-bound Russian planes over its airspace if Moscow agrees to let it inspect the cargo, following concerns they might be carrying arms for the Syrian regime.

"If our Russian colleagues agree for their flights to be inspected at a Bulgarian airport, we will grant them a permit," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov told journalists.

His remarks came a day after NATO and EU member Bulgaria confirmed it had refused permission late last week to an unspecified number of Russian aircraft to cross its airspace between September 1 and 24, angering Moscow.

Russia made no immediate reaction to Mitov's remarks.

Moscow had on Tuesday demanded answers from Bulgaria and also neighbouring Greece, suggesting both countries had denied permission for Russian humanitarian aid planes to use their airspace.

Greece confirmed receiving a request from Washington to bar two Russian planes from crossing its airspace. But it said Moscow had itself decided to use an alternative route instead.

In the meantime, Bulgaria's foreign ministry said it had taken the decision "absolutely independently" while Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev explained that Sofia had grounds to believe the planes were carrying arms as well as aid.

Washington has voiced concern at reports suggesting Moscow may be boosting military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and had sent a military advance team to the war-torn country.

On Wednesday, Athens denied any rift with Moscow over the matter with the foreign ministry saying that "no displeasure or any other negative comment has been expressed by anyone."

Mitov said the European Council had imposed restrictions on the supply of certain goods and services to Syria which every EU member state was "obliged to implement".

"We had enough information to give us reasons to believe that there is a discrepancy between the declared purpose of the flights and the real delivery, meaning that we would not issue a permit," he added.

But in a sign that the ban was only limited, Bulgaria said it had authorised the overflight of a plane linked to the Russian defence ministry carrying diplomatic personnel on September 7.

There were "no grounds to refuse" the flight, the Bulgarian foreign ministry said in a statement, adding there was no connection to the planes that had been blocked.

Using Bulgarian and Greek airspace allows Russian planes to bypass Turkey and Iran on their way to Syria.

In 2012, Turkish warplanes forced a Damascus-bound passenger plane from Moscow to land and searched it on suspicion it was carrying equipment that breached civil aviation rules.

Source: AFP