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Pressure Mounts On Belarus Over Forced Landing To Arrest Dissident By Max DELANY
05/24/21 AT 2:36 PM
European countries moved to isolate Belarus on Monday by cutting air ties after it provoked an international outcry by forcing a commercial airliner to land so it could arrest an opposition activist.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels eyed proposals to stop Belarus state airline flying to the bloc and prevent European carriers from using the country s airspace, after several nations started closing air routes.
The Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying dissident journalist Roman Protasevich was diverted while in Belarusian airspace on Sunday over a supposed bomb threat.
The European Union has joined the UK in new sanctions against Belarus as pressure mounts on Minsk over the arrest of a prominent critic in what has been called a “state-sponsored hijack” of a plane.
A special meeting of the EU Council was held on Monday evening, hours before an already-planned summit, with the 27 members states agreeing to ban Belarusian airlines from EU airspace and airports, and recommending EU airlines do not fly to the country.
It comes after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps instructed the Civil Aviation Authority to request airlines avoid Belarusian air space “to keep passengers safe”. He also suspended the operating permit for Belavia, the country’s state-owned airline.
Belarus opposition blogger Roman Protasevich, 26, was detained after his Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was diverted to Minsk by a Soviet-era warplane on the pretext of a bomb threat.
The European Union has joined the UK in new sanctions against Belarus as pressure mounts on Minsk over the arrest of a prominent critic in what has been called a “state-sponsored hijack” of a plane.
A special meeting of the EU Council was held on Monday evening, hours before an already-planned summit, with the 27 members states agreeing to ban Belarusian airlines from EU airspace and airports, and recommending EU airlines do not fly to the country.
It comes after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps instructed the Civil Aviation Authority to request airlines avoid Belarusian air space “to keep passengers safe”. He also suspended the operating permit for Belavia, the country’s state-owned airline.