[ad_1]
On Sunday, Belarusian authorities were forced to land in Minsk on a plane flying from Athens to Vilnius to arrest journalist Roman Protasevich. Lithuanian law enforcement agencies have launched a pre-trial investigation into the kidnapping and enforced disappearance, which was condemned by the international community.
In response to the incident, Latvian airline airBaltic and Hungarian airline WizzAir announced that they would not fly over the country’s airspace after Belarus forced a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk. Read more about it here.
Alvydas Šumskas, Director of the Civil Aviation Department of the Transport Competition Agency 15 minutes He stated that this recommendation was also sent to Lithuanian companies.
“Recommendations have been sent to our companies for self-assessment of flights, because we cannot close the airspace of Belarus, because it is not our space. Nor can we recommend or instruct other air campaigns outside of our jurisdiction, ”said A. Šumskas.
Lithuania does not have national airlines, but there are aircraft rental companies and charter flights operating in the country.
When asked if there will be many foreign airlines that decide not to fly over Belarus, A. Šumskas replied that he would not evaluate it.
“I don’t want to collect coffee grounds, there are processes, discussions, exchanges of views in the Lithuanian institutions, the European Council, where the President participates. Yes, the reaction will be something, no matter the size, I don’t want to talk, ”said a representative of the Transport Competition Agency.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / Alvydas Šumskas
He stated that no information had yet been received from other airlines on whether or not they would continue to fly over Belarus.
“Not yet, it is not clear if they will fly today,” said A. Šumskas.
“Well planned campaign”
The director of the Civil Aviation Department of the Transport Competition Agency described the forced landing of a plane flying to Lithuania in Minsk as a well-planned action.
“In fact, in my eyes as a citizen, the arrest of one of the opposition figures for whom the international search was announced is clearly planned. The execution was carried out in a professional manner. In the absence of the arrest of the opposition, it is a fact of more than one and not two. There is nothing miraculous about planting a bomb, there are false reports, but in this case, those indirect facts or actions show that it was a planned action, ”said A. Šumskas.
When asked if the data showed that other circumstances had been calculated, for example when to classify them as combatants, A. Šumskas stated that it was impossible to obtain data on this for Belarus.
“He is asking too many questions, for which I have no answer, because it happened in the airspace of Belarus and it is impossible to get information from them about his questions today,” emphasized A. Šumskas.
Landed on an active journalist
About the fact that a Ryanair plane took off in Athens and had around 1 pm landed in Vilnius, it was forcibly landed in Minsk, it was reported on Sunday afternoon.
According to the headquarters of the Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlan Cichanouskaya, the plane landed on the initiative of the Aliaksandr Lukashenko regime to arrest the Belarusian journalist, founder of the Nexta information channel and editor-in-chief Roman Protasevičius.
Headquarters photo of Sviatlana Cichanouskaya / Roman Protasevičius
See also: Belarusian opposition: the regime landed on a plane to Vilnius to arrest a journalist
Asta Skaisgirytė, the senior adviser to President Gitanas Nausėda, calls it an “unprecedented case” and claims that the plane the acquisition is similar to the KBG transaction.
The president called on the EU and NATO allies to “call for immediate retaliation against the Belarusian regime.”
[ad_2]
