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Authorities in Belarus have insisted they acted legally when they diverted a passenger plane carrying an opposition activist and have accused the West of making unfounded claims for political reasons.
The government of strongman Alexander Lukashenko provoked global fury on Sunday by pulling Ryanair flight FR4978 from its Athens-to-Vilnius route and arresting one of the passengers, opposition journalist and blogger Roman Protasevich, in Minsk.
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Western leaders called it an act of state terrorism and the EU is expected to toughen sanctions against Belarus on Monday.
Ireland described the forced diversion of the flight operated by the Irish airline as a state-sponsored act of aviation piracy .
Updated: 24 May 2021, 10:40
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THE Foreign Affairs Minister has slammed a forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Belarus yesterday as state-sponsored aviation piracy .
Minister Simon Coveney this morning called for the EU to give a very clear response to the incident ahead of a European Council meeting later today.
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Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O LearyCredit: Reuters
A journalist and exiled opposition activist was arrested after Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko ordered a MiG-29 fighter to escort the Ryanair holiday jet to Minsk midway through a flight from Greece to Lithuania.
Crew on board the flight were falsely told that a bomb was on board before being forced to divert to the Belarus capital where Roman Protasevich, 26, was arrested.
Publishing date: May 24, 2021 • 2 hours ago • 4 minute read •
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KYIV/VILNIUS European leaders threatened on Monday to limit international air traffic over Belarus and possibly restrict its ground transport, after a Ryanair passenger plane was forced to land in an incident denounced by Western countries as “state piracy.”
Western leaders reached for the strongest language to condemn Sunday’s incident, in which a Belarusian warplane intercepted a flight between Greece and Lithuania and forced it down in Minsk, where a dissident journalist was arrested.
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Belarus secret police are believed to have been on a Ryanair flight which was forcibly diverted to Minsk where an opposition activist who was on board was detai