The plane, on a flight from Athens to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, was in Belarus airspace when it was intercepted and forced to land in its capital Minsk. Protasevich, a 26-year-old dissident journalist and passenger on the flight, was then arrested.
Belarus, an ally of Russia, said Monday its air traffic controllers could not force the Ryanair flight to land, and instead gave the plane s crew recommendations, Reuters reported citing Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Belarusian state-owned news agency BelTA reported that authorities scrambled a MiG-29 fighter jet to divert the flight as it neared the Lithuanian border following orders from strongman President Alexander Lukashenko.
The plane, on a flight from Athens to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, was in Belarus airspace when it was intercepted and forced to land in its capital Minsk. Protasevich, a 26-year-old dissident journalist and passenger on the flight, was then arrested.
Belarus, an ally of Russia, said Monday its air traffic controllers could not force the Ryanair flight to land, and instead gave the plane s crew recommendations, Reuters reported citing Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Belarusian state-owned news agency BelTA reported that authorities scrambled a MiG-29 fighter jet to divert the flight as it neared the Lithuanian border following orders from strongman President Alexander Lukashenko.
U.K. Bans Belarus Airline, Points Finger at Russia U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab Martyn Wheatley / i-Images via ZUMA Press / TASS
Britain on Monday banned Belarus flag carrier Belavia and said Russia was likely complicit in the forced landing in Minsk of a civilian jet to detain a dissident journalist.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also said he had told the Civil Aviation Authority to instruct UK aircraft to avoid Belarusian airspace, in order to keep passengers safe.
Shapps suspended the operating permit of Belavia, which flies daily direct flights from Minsk to London Gatwick, and operates other flights to London Heathrow via Paris in a code-share with Air France.
Aircraft have been instructed to avoid Belarusian airspace following the “state-sponsored hijack” of a Ryanair flight to enable the arrest of a prominent critic of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said further sanctions are being considered against the Lukashenko administration – including the suspension of energy pipelines in Belarus – and Belarus’s ambassador in London had been summoned for a dressing down.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he has instructed the Civil Aviation Authority to request airlines avoid Belarusian airspace “in order to keep passengers safe”.
He also suspended the operating permit for Belavia, the country’s state-owned airline.
Monday May 24, 2021, 5:17 AM
Britain has strongly condemned the arrest of a Belarus opposition activist after the Ryanair flight he was travelling on was diverted from its route to land in the country. Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Britain has strongly condemned the arrest of a Belarus opposition activist after the Ryanair flight he was travelling on was diverted from its route to land in the country.
Belarus state media said the aircraft – which was travelling from Athens to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius – was switched to Minsk following a bomb threat.
However, opposition groups said it was an operation by Belarus special services to “hijack” the flight so they could arrest activist and blogger Roman Protasevich.