EU cuts air links with Belarus over forced plane landing as Roman Protasevich appears under duress
State television broadcast video of dissident journalist - with dark markings visible on his face - confessing to organising mass unrest
25 May 2021 • 8:01am
EU leaders agreed to cut air links with Belarus on Monday, as leader Alexander Lukashenko s regime paraded a dissident journalist arrested after his flight was forced to land in Minsk.
Strongman Lukashenko sparked international outrage by dispatching a fighter jet Sunday to intercept a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying wanted reporter Roman Protasevich, 26, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.
European leaders meeting in Brussels hit back by agreeing to ban Belarusian airlines from the bloc s airspace and urged EU-based carriers not to fly over its airspace, while US president overnight sharply condemned Belarus.
How Belarus s aviation piracy broke international law
France24
25 May 2021, 19:08 GMT+10
Belarus s forced diversion of a plane to arrest dissident journalist Roman Protasevich has prompted outrage. FRANCE 24 looks at precisely how it broke international law and what - if anything - can be done about it.
The forced diversion of a flight between two EU members, Greece and Lithuania, operated by Irish airline Ryanair, provoked fury among Western politicians.
The Republic of Ireland strongly condemned the forced diversion of the flight, with Foreign Minister Simon Coveney telling public broadcaster RTE that this was effectively aviation piracy, state-sponsored .
Ahead of an EU meeting to discuss Belarus s act later on Monday, Coveney warned that we cannot allow this incident to pass on the basis of warnings or strong press releases; I think there has to be real edge to the sanctions that are applied on the back of this .
The airline group Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary has said that Belarus’ forced landing of a Ryanair passenger jet in Minsk was “a state-sponsored hijacking” apparently directed by KGB agents.
"It appears the authorities intended to remove a journalist and his travelling companion," Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary told Ireland's Newstalk radio.
"We believe there were some (Belarusian security agency) KGB agents offloaded at the airport as well."
Dublin-headquartered Ryanair is renowned for ultra-low-cost, short-haul flights across the continental bloc.
Dublin-headquartered Ryanair is renowned for ultra-low-cost, short-haul flights across the continental bloc
The airline group Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary has said that Belarus’ forced landing of a Ryanair passenger jet in Minsk was “a state-sponsored hijacking” apparently directed by KGB agents. It appears the authorities intended to remove a journalist and his travelling companion, Ryanair chief executive Michael O Leary told Ireland s Newstalk radio. We believe there were some (Belarusian security agency) KGB agents offloaded at the airport as well.
Dublin-headquartered Ryanair is renowned for ultra-low-cost, short-haul flights across the continental bloc.
Favoured by budget holidaymakers, the carrier is an unlikely participant in a high-stakes diplomatic crisis.