Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the decision of a number of North Atlantic Alliance countries not to allow his plane to visit Serbia unprecedented, TASS reported.

"There were a lot of questions from the media last night and this morning regarding our reaction to the unprecedented decisions taken by some members of the North Atlantic Alliance and the decisions that prevented the Russian foreign minister from visiting the Republic of Serbia. I understand the interest you show in our assessment of these outrageous actions," Lavrov said Monday at an online press conference on topical issues on the international agenda.

Lavrov called the West's position of depriving Serbia of the ability to choose its partners cynical.

"Now this principle [freedom to choose partners], which the West has been putting up as a priority, has been trampled on by the West itself. Serbia, from the point of view of the West, should have no choice, no freedom of choice of partners," Lavrov said, commenting on the refusal of several NATO countries to let his plane into Serbia. The head of the Foreign Ministry highlighted that such a position is "cynical," but no longer surprising.