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Russia said on Friday that Western countries were behaving irresponsibly and endangering passengers by banning flights in Belarusian airspace following the incident last weekend when authoritarian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko’s regime landed by force. a Ryanair liner and arrested an optician colleague in Minsk.
“What the West has done to ban flights in Belarusian airspace for political reasons is completely irresponsible and represents a threat to the safety of passengers,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook.
According to her, the decision made by the European Union “in one day” to change flight routes will cause “enormous problems for people.”
“It is time for Brussels to learn to take effective action on real and unimaginable human security,” Zacharova added.
Maria Zacharova
Photo: Itar-Tass / Scanpix
On Sunday afternoon, a Ryanair passenger plane flying from Athens to Vilnius landed at Minsk airport. He had approached Lithuanian airspace, but was forced to head to the capital of Belarus. Raman Pratasevičius, a blogger who opposed the plane, and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, a Russian student at the European University of Humanities in Vilnius, were arrested as the plane was landing in Minsk.
As a result of the incident, EU leaders agreed to ban Belarusian airlines from flying into the bloc and asked EU airlines not to fly into Belarusian airspace, increasing pressure that the EU is considering imposing sectoral sanctions on the country.
ICAO will investigate the landing of a passenger liner in Belarus
The United Nations Civil Aviation Agency said Thursday it was investigating Ryanair’s landing in Belarus and the arrest of a dissident journalist who had flown there.
At the time, airlines reported that Russia had blocked some flights from Europe in the wake of a diplomatic dispute.
The G7 countries also demanded that Minsk release journalist Raman Pratasevich, and the European Union’s foreign policy chief threatened harsh economic sanctions.
The Council of the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) “has decided to carry out an investigation to establish the facts of the incident,” according to the report.
The Council meeting “emphasized the importance of establishing the facts of what happened and understanding whether any ICAO member has violated international aviation law in any way.”
The authoritarian Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko, strongly backed by Moscow, sparked international outrage by ordering a fighter jet to be dispatched to take over a Ryanair liner from Athens-Vilnius on Sunday that had the 26-year-old Pratasevic and her friend. 23-year-old Sofia. Sapega.
R. Pratasevic was last seen in a video posted by the Belarusian authorities on Monday. The nervous-looking young man said he was giving “confessions” about allegations that he had helped organize mass riots in Belarus. You can be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for such a crime.
“I want you to extend our call everywhere: to governments around the world, to EU countries, to EU leaders, to the leaders of the United States: I ask you, I beg you, to help liberate my son, “Pratasevičius’s mother Natalia told reporters. In Warsaw.
His father, Jmitry, said Thursday that his son is a “strong man” and a “hero.”
“All his life he fought for the truth and spread it to the people, that’s why Lukashenko committed this unpleasant act,” said his father.
Inesa Alenskaya, a lawyer for activist and blogger R. Pratasevičius, said Thursday that she had managed to meet with her client.
“We managed to reach the defendant today. I have signed [pasižadėjimą neviešinti informacijos]I cannot give you more details, ”said the lawyer.
Mr. Alenskaya added that he could not say exactly where he was being detained and what his condition was.
He said R. Pratasevičius was “alive and well.”
Finished air services
ICAO, which includes Belarus, cannot order sanctions, and Russia’s support for Minsk means that the UN Security Council will hardly be able to adopt a joint statement.
However, EU countries can no longer travel on Belarusian airlines and EU airlines are urged not to fly into Belarusian airspace.
Austrian Airlines announced Thursday that it canceled a flight from Vienna to Moscow after Russian officials failed to approve a change to the flight plan to allow the aircraft to evade Belarusian airspace.
An Air France flight from Paris to Moscow was canceled for the same reason on Wednesday.
“The last dictator of Europe”
Mr Lukashenko told Parliament on Wednesday that he had “legitimately acted in defense of our people in accordance with all international standards” following a report of an alleged bomb on board an aircraft.
According to him, the criticism is just another attempt by opponents to undermine his management.
Lukashenko, often referred to as “Europe’s last dictator,” currently faces perhaps the greatest international pressure in nearly 27 years of his reign.
Lukashenko and his allies already face a series of Western sanctions for brutally suppressing mass protests following his disputed re-election to a six-year term in the August elections.
However, he remains strongly supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will meet with the Belarusian leader on Friday.
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