Niraj Chokshi and Stanley Reed, The New York Times
Published: 25 May 2021 12:04 PM BdST
Updated: 25 May 2021 12:04 PM BdST A still image shows a flight path of Ryanair FR4978 on May 23, 2021 on its way from Athens, Greece to Lithuanian capital Vilnius and diverted to Minsk, Belarus, obtained by Reuters on May 24, 2021.FLIGHTRADAR24.COM via REUTERS
The brazen decision by Belarus’ president this past weekend to force a commercial flight to land in order to arrest a dissident journalist shows how abruptly aviation can become entangled in geopolitics, sometimes with dangerous potential consequences. );
}
Fallout from the episode was swift. A day after dispatching a fighter jet to ground the Ryanair flight, the country’s strongman president, Alexander Lukashenko, drew reprimands and flight bans from countries and airlines around the world.