Page 49 - Sofia Sapega News Today

Putin and Lukashenko to meet after Belarus plane diversion

Raman Pratasevich met with his lawyer after four days in detention. Belarusian and Lithuanian journalists were joined by the director of Reporters Without Borders in a protest vigil on the EU's eastern border.

LRT English Newsletter – May 28, 2021.

Russia blocks flights to Moscow for avoiding Belarus airspace with Putin set to meet Lukashenko The i 2 hrs ago Taz Ali © Provided by The i Russia has blocked European airlines from flying to Moscow in protest against a ban on planes entering Belarus’s airspace (Photo: Onliner.By via AP) Russia has blocked two European airlines that were trying to skirt Belarus from flying to Moscow as more EU states apply sanctions in response to the forced landing of a Ryanair flight...

Last modified on Fri 28 May 2021 04.53 EDT Church bells rang in the city of Byarozawka as hundreds of mourners laid Vitold Ashurak to rest. They draped the white-red-white flag favoured by the Belarusian opposition over his body, as local police kept a wary eye on the funeral. Sentenced to five years in prison after last year’s mass demonstrations against Alexander Lukashenko, the 50-year-old protest leader survived less than one. When Ashurak’s body was returned to his family, his he...

Greece’s PM has said that there is “no evidence” that Belarusian KGB or any other secret service agents were on board the Ryanair flight that was diverted.

MOSCOW: Russia on Friday threw its weight behind Belarus's increasingly isolated regime, slamming a European overflight ban as President Vladimir Putin prepared to host strongman Alexander Lukashenko.

Advertisement In scenes described by furious Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary as a “state kidnapping”, the autocratic long-term President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, dispatched a fighter jet to intercept a plane carrying 26-year-old dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich, using claims of a bomb threat to force the commercial flight to land in Minsk, Belarus, instead of Vilnius, Lithuania. The subsequent arrest at the airport of Pratasevich and his girlfriend breached international law an...

Should the murky past of an activist standing up against a dictatorial government be ignored for the sake of winning a PR war? Some believe so, but the case of Roman Protasevich shows the risky consequences of ignoring the truth.

Russia Says EUs Belarus Flight Ban Endangers Passengers May 28, 2021 Russia has backed Belarus over what the EU has called a "state hijacking" of a Ryanair flight last Sunday. Viktor Drachev / TASS Russia said Friday that Western countries were being irresponsible and endangering passengers by banning flights over Belarus in response to President Alexander Lukashenkos forced grounding of a Ryanair flight. "What the West has do...