Bulgaria on Tuesday confirmed it has denied a request by Moscow to allow Russian military transport planes to overfly Bulgarian territory en route to Syria in the period 1-24 September 2015.

“The reason for the refusal is associated with incorrect information in the requests to fly over the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria regarding the purpose of the flights and the cargo,” the Foreign Ministry in Sofia said in a press release.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian news agency TASS quoted Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Betina Zhoteva as saying that overflight permission had been denied "because on the basis of the available information we had reasonable doubts the cargoes were not the declared ones.

Media reports have led to speculation that Russia is stepping up its military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government. 

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!