Russia said on Monday that there would be no meeting between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at an OSCE meeting in North Macedonia this week, Reuters reported.

Earlier, Lavrov said he would join foreign ministers of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which includes Canada and the US, in Skopje if Bulgaria opens its airspace. He stated that some Western countries had requested meetings with him.

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the West has sought to isolate Russia, and personal meetings between senior ministers have been rare.

But in response to a question at the same foreign policy forum, the TASS news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Ryabkov as saying that Washington did not demand the meeting “and will not demand it.”

The meeting of 57 members of the OSCE, whose purpose is to prevent conflicts and security crises, takes place from November 30 to December 1.

“It seems that Bulgaria has promised Macedonia that it will open its airspace – if it happens, then we will be there. Let’s see,” Lavrov said.

“There are already several requests for meetings – including from Western representatives,” Lavrov said, without naming the countries.

Foreign Minister Buyar Osmani said this month that North Macedonia’s neighbors have not yet made a final decision on the flight rules for the Russian delegation. A spokesman for the OSCE chairman in North Macedonia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Of course, we will meet with everyone,” Lavrov said. “If someone approaches us, we never run or hide.”

Bulgarian airspace is closed to Russian aircraft as part of European Union sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.