On Sunday morning, Ryanair’s flight from Athens to Vilnius was forced by the government of Belarus to divert Minsk just before reaching the Lithuanian airspace.
The Ryanair flight FR4978 was forced to land to detain a journalist Mr. Roman Pratasevic who previously worked for an opposition TV channel and had left the country to live in exile.
Flightradar24 shows the part of the Ryanair flight FR4976:
Here’s an excerpt from Euronews:
Pratasevich, who had fled the country for Poland, faces charges that could carry a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
Exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to begin an investigation.
“It is absolutely obvious that this is an operation by the special services to hijack an aircraft in order to detain activist and blogger Raman Pratasevich,” she said in a statement. “Not a single person who flies over Belarus can be sure of his safety.”
The president of Belarus ordered the diversion according to Reuters:
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered a Ryanair (RYA.I) flight from Greece to Lithuania to land on Sunday in Minsk, where a Belarusian opposition activist on board was detained, prompting international condemnation.
Lukashenko personally ordered a warplane to escort the Boeing to Minsk, BelTA reported. No explosives were found, it said.
Lithuania and traditional Russian ally Belarus are neighbours and former members of the Soviet Union. Lithuania is now a member of the European Union, Belarus is not.
European Leaders widely condemned the act:
It is utterly unacceptable to force @Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius to land in Minsk.
ALL passengers must be able to continue their travel to Vilnius immediately and their safety ensured.
Any violation of international air transport rules must bear consequences.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 23, 2021
We need an immediate explanation by the Government of #Belarus on the diversion of a Ryan Air flight within the EU to Minsk and the alleged detention of a journalist.
— Miguel Berger (@MiguelBergerAA) May 23, 2021
The UK is alarmed by reports of the arrest of @nexta_tv journalist Roman Protasevich & circumstances that led to his flight being forced to land in Minsk. We are coordinating with our allies. This outlandish action by Lukashenko will have serious implications.
— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) May 23, 2021
The forced landing of a commercial plane to detain a journalist is an unprecedented, shocking act. We demand all passengers’ immediate release. Tomorrow’s #EUCO must address the need to step up pressure on Belarus. Enough is enough.
— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) May 23, 2021
Had an emergency call with 🇮🇪 Minister of European Affairs @ThomasByrneTD to discuss the forced landing of Ryanair plane to arrest journalist Raman Pratasevich in Belarus. I urge 🇬🇷🇱🇹🇮🇪🇵🇱 to initiate @icao @IATA investigation. We must end the impunity of Lukashenka's regime. pic.twitter.com/qjp3gabXQA
— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) May 23, 2021
Conclusion
The Belarus election in 2020 was set to reelect the president who has been in power ever since 1994. Everything didn’t go to the plan as a strong opposition candidate appeared who had to be suppressed and now lives in exile.
It is unprecedented that a country forces a flight to divert. There was the incident back in 2013 when the plane carrying the president of Bolivia had to land in Austria after several countries denied its airspace access due to the assumption that it was also carrying Edward Snowden.
Dissidents and opposition figures now need to carefully study flight routes to ensure that the aircraft doesn’t overfly a country or territory whose government may want to detain them?
This is not a show of strength but rather a weakness by President Lukashenko.
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Ryanair doesn’t have scheduled services to Minsk. The Belarus Government at a stroke has reduced the demand for any services to Belarus.
I wish this were the bottom of the slippery slope of denying human rights, but, it is not even close. Every one who supports “cancel culture,” “woke” and “track and trace” needs to understand that they will be next.
Close down their airspace for international flights and slap them with loads of sanctions.
EU member states closed their airspace for Belavia flights. And stopped investments of € 3 billions.
Lukashenko shot himself in the foot.
Even during the most tense periods of The Cold War things like this were simply never done. The U.S. and EU need to impose extremely harsh sanctions or else effectively be complicit in this action. No repercussions means that what was done is okay.
Indeed, government is the problem, so let’s ask government to solve it!
I suppose readers are forgetting that the US military controls the entire airspace of earth. This tin-cup tyrant could not have done this without the permission of the US. I doubt the US is going to impose sanctions, but who knows the real game afoot here?
Silly
Big PR disaster for Ryan Air too
They did PR about that? Did not know. I don’t fly them.
Funny how everyone have short memory didnt ISRAEL do the same several tine and once diverted a jet heading to Tripoli ???but of course Israel can always get away with everything not BELARUS.
Hopefully, you’re not referring to the diversion of El Al flight 332 on the 13th of May, because a diversion to avoid enemy rocket fire (which El Al was) is quite different from a diversion forced by military aircraft and a bomb threat in order to remove a dissident…this was a terrorist act perpetrated by the unelected dictator of Belarus.
Of course am not that dumb to reffer to recent events .
Get your facts right or zip it!
Zip it yourself 1986 jet flying Beirut to Tripoli was forced to divert to Israel because they tought a Palestinian leader was in,after search and not found plane was allowed to continue to Tripoli.
Well, people didnt seem to agree with your dumb comment..not only me. It only looks like you are defending Belarus behavior.
In no way am defending any kind of hijacking but i am just talking about double standard.
Talking about double standards – I suggest again to do it in a different manner/way.
You would do yourself and your case a favour if you stated your facts right from the beginning and not resort to whataboutism. This way it would add information. Unfortunately, no, most people will not remember this incident. It is even hard to find in the internet.
Search New York times edition 5th february 1986 by Thomas Friedman ;next time do better research .
I did that before. Without your details. I reiterate – you do not do yourself or your cause any favour. On the contrary – you come across as obnoxious and not very smart.
I also remember the 80ies as being a period of intense Palestinian Terror activities – internationally. I also remember the 1972 massacre in Munich – and I was very young then. I feel for Palestinians and their plight. However, I do not like people with your attitude.
This is not your blogg and am not asking you to like me nor my comment but you seem to pay much attention and time to something you dislike,next time scroll down and spare me your opinion.
It does not surprise me you do not like what I am saying. Is it your blog?
Read New York times 5th feb 1986 then ZIPP IT .
So Belarus should get away with its rogue methods? Or what are you trying to say? In any case this line of “argument” does not get you anywhere. It just shows poor “thinking”. I am critical of Israel’s politics. And what flight/s are you referring to? And what were the circumstances?
LOT is already going to change routes of all flights to not fly over Belarus.
(so only flights to Belarus will fly over Belarus airspace).
This event with Edward Snowden was not the same. Similar situation would be if this Ryanair flight will have denied access to Belarus airspace (and will divert via Poland to avoid Belarus).
How could it be the same? When it comes to audacity, similar situation though. In this case the audacity of the US Government. Requesting from its NATO partners (misuse of the partnership) to deny/withdraw overflight permits. The aircraft then had to request an emergency landing in Vienna because of fuel issues. Alas, there was no Snowden on board. Heads of State and their aircraft have immunity. Italy, France, Spain and Portugal later apologized to Bolivia. Did not have the cojones to stand up to an unrightful request. Actions like these really “endears” US politics to the European public.
Hey Danny! you said
“Requesting from its [the USA] NATO partners (misuse of the partnership) to deny/withdraw overflight “permits.
Funny, you agree with what I said, but down voted my comment above. I guess you just subscribe to cancel culture and general censorship of people you dislike. You will see Karma.
Who let KillBill out of it’s Care Home?
No symptoms, but I tested positive on a 45CT PCR. Gotta trust science!
According to ST Fauci, I test positive for HIV too. Damn that test is really worthwhile! Super expensive AZT to treat dead nucleotides; love those royalties.
KillBill, you omitted your very obvious and highly acute IBS.
What name will you choose next old man?
Probably a name I used on a discounted Toronto-London DC10 flight in the 70’s. You probably have a list of all those flights and passengers; figure it out.
Further hint; I sat in the non-smoking section which, unfortunately was at the front of a nose up aircraft (DC10) meaning I smelled like cigarette smoke on arrival anyway.
Sorry, to correct you. I do/ did not agree with what you said. This may be due to the fact that I am not good at grasping twisted minds.
I quoted you.
How do you get through life? Do tell us….
Hey Danny, thanks for asking. Clearly you could use some counsel.
1. sticking to facts
2. staying on subject
3, avoiding ad hominem attacks (both directions)
4. A sincere desire to be helpful
5. not arguing
6. a strong adherence to the golden rule.
Try them. They work.
You just broke your 1 to 6 in your charged reaction/retort.
So no change there then.
Keep making us laugh – it’s the one thing your almost good at :))
… a 100% accurate assessment.
Just how was this Ryanair flight “forced” to land? So it was intercepted by a Belarussian fighter … and then what? “You vill divert to Minsk and land now or ve vill shoot you down!’ Unbloodylikely.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/24/world/belarus-ryanair-protasevich
He sent a fighter jet to divert it!
No pilot of a civil airliner will “discuss” with a MIG-29 pilot. They follow instructions – it is their airspace.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b015676259d0a68349e72e2b40c43683c8814b0de09abd6263e011369d505cf.jpg