Greek analyst: Ryanair plane landing infuriated Greece

On May 23, the crew of a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius received a false report from Belarusian dispatchers about a possible explosive on a passenger liner. Romanas Protasevičius, one of the founders of the independent news channel Nexta, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, who is studying in Vilnius, were arrested after the plane landed in Minsk.

Immediately after the incident, Greek Prime Minister Kiriak Micotakis said Belarus had displayed “unacceptable aggression” and said he wanted to see “clear and serious consequences”.

According to the Greek analyst J. Koucomitis, such a step by the Minsk regime angered Greek society, the country’s politicians and other European leaders launched sanctions on Belarusian airlines.

It is reported that, in addition to R. Protasevičius and S. Sapega, four more people who boarded the plane in Athens did not arrive, they remained in Minsk.

After Protasevičius’ colleagues made his pre-flight message public that he was being tracked in Greece and attempted to take pictures of his identity documents at the airport, it was speculated that the remaining people in Minsk were Belarusian or Russian agents.

Belarusian state media reported that these people, including a Greek citizen, were allegedly asked to stay in Minsk because it was more convenient for them.

Greek Prime Minister Mikotakis also claimed that there were no foreign agents on the plane.

“We have no sign that there were KGB agents or security agents on that plane. None. Zero. And we studied it very carefully,” he told German publication Bild.

Analyst J. Koucomitis claims that the leaked internal Greek Security Service report states that there is no clear evidence that Russian or Belarusian agents in Greece followed R. Protasevičius as Posted by Vice.

“However, we cannot be sure, because the Belarusian activist did not take any security measures during the visit. If the foreign forces had followed Protasevičius, it would have been very easy to do so: he did not hide, he was in public places, he would not have needed special ops to follow him. ” 15 minutes Koucomitis said.

Have other concerns

According to Koucomit, Greece is very sensitive to the repression of the Belarusian regime against the opposition and the repression against activists. Therefore, Greece is ready to participate in the coordinated efforts of the European institutions to force the Belarusian authorities to reach an agreement with the opposition.

“On the other hand, Greece wants to keep the channels open with the Russian government.” I’m not sure how determined to darken relations with Russia due to the Protasevich incident, the Belarusian government’s relations with the opposition, “he said.

According to the observer, Greece is more concerned about its relations with Turkey and the situation in the Mediterranean.

“This incident will make Greece more interested in Belarus in the future. However, I am not sure if the Greek government will take further initiatives. It will probably only follow the decisions of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, the European Council,” he said .

In response to the incident, the EU is considering a new package of sanctions against Belarus, whose airlines are already banned from the use of EU airspace.

According to Tadeusz Giczano, editor-in-chief of the Nexta news channel, the Minsk regime initially planned to take the plane with S. Cichanouskaya.

The email account from which the threat was allegedly sent was created on May 14, when Ms. Cichanouskaya was visiting Greece and two days before her flight on the same Ryanair Athens-Vilnius flight.

The threatening email sent by Minsk to the Palestinian group Hamas mentions the Delphi Economic Forum on May 12-14, which Chichanouskaya attended.

The letter also calls on Israel to cease fire in the Gaza Strip. However, on May 23, when the letter was sent, the fire between Israel and Hamas had already ceased.