Putin received Lukashenko in Sochi in response to Western outrage over the diversion of the plane.

Observers watched the talks closely to find out how far the Kremlin would go in support of the Minsk regime after Lukashenko on Sunday ordered to send a fighter jet to take over a Ryanair liner from 26 to 26-year-old Roman Protasevičius and his 23 years old. -old friend Sofia Sapega. They were arrested.

Following the forced landing of the plane, the European Union asked EU carriers to avoid Belarusian airspace and promised to impose new sanctions on Lukashenko and regime officials.

The White House later announced that Belarus would face US sanctions, and US airliners had to be “very careful” if they were to fly over Belarusian airspace.

“Building a state of togetherness”

During the talks in Sochi, Putin warmly welcomed Lukashenko and agreed with him that the Western reaction to the plane was a “rush of emotions.”

The Russian leader said he was “very happy” to see Lukashenko and that they should go swimming.

In carefully worded remarks against journalists, Putin also said that in 2013, when then Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane was forced to land in Austria, there was not much outrage in the West.

“The president was taken off the plane and nothing, silence,” Putin said at the beginning of the talks.

The plane in which E. Morales was flying from Moscow had to spend a few hours in Vienna on suspicion that the plane was carrying a fugitive Edward Snowden, a visitor from the secrets of US intelligence.

However, unlike the incident in Belarus, which involved a fighter jet and a bomb reported aboard a plane, a Bolivian plane, according to The Washington Post, had to land due to bureaucracy: several European countries refused to allow it. in its airspace and where there were uncertainties about the next route home, Bolivian officials later told reporters.

Lukashenko has complained in Sochi that the West seeks to provoke unrest in his country.

“There is an attempt to bring the situation to the level of last August,” Lukashenko said, referring to protests against his regime after the disputed presidential elections.

“It is clear what these Western friends want from us,” said the authoritarian president.

Lukashenko, who arrived in Sochi with a briefcase, said he wanted to show Putin “certain documents” related to the Ryanair incident and thanked him for his support in the conflict with the West.

The negotiations lasted more than five hours, but their results were not reported.

Among other things, Putin and Lukashenko praised the growing bilateral cooperation.

“We are building a state of Union,” the Russian leader told the guest at the beginning of the talks in Sochi.

“We are definitely moving in that direction, that work is already yielding concrete results for our citizens,” he said.

Russia and Belarus have formed an allied state and maintain close economic and military ties. Russia is calling for stronger integration, but Lukashenko has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of uniting the two countries.

In recent years, in the wake of tensions between Moscow and Minsk, Lukashenko has increasingly sought to engage with the West and has been famous for his efforts to cross Russia with the EU when it suits him.

However, after the incident with Ryanair, Lukashenko’s options appear to be limited.

Putin and Lukashenko have been meeting regularly since August, when massive protests by Lukashenko’s government began, which has lasted for almost three decades, after the disputed elections.

The authoritarian 66-year-old President of Belarus has resorted to relentless repression against his opponents and, condemned by the West, is increasingly leaning towards Putin.

Several people died during the unrest in Belarus, thousands were arrested and hundreds reported torture in prison.

The plane’s crash landing on Sunday was a dramatic escalation: EU leaders accused Minsk of essentially hijacking a European plane to arrest Protasevičius.

“Technical reasons”

The call not to fly over Belarus has led to the cancellation of several flights between Russia and Europe, and Russian officials refuse to approve flight plans that would avoid Belarusian airspace.

The Russians claim the cancellations were for purely “technical” reasons, but raise concerns that Russia could systematically refuse to allow European airlines to land at its airports if they evade Belarusian airspace.

Russia, for its part, has said that Western countries are behaving irresponsibly and endangering passengers by banning flights in Belarusian airspace.

“What the West has done to ban flights in Belarusian airspace for political reasons is completely irresponsible and represents a threat to passenger safety,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook.

EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc was watching to see if it was a broader Russian policy, but the Kremlin said the disruptions were not political at all.

Belarusian officials said they had received a report of a bomb on a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius on Sunday. This information was not confirmed later.

Minsk claimed that the authorities had received a letter saying it was from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and threatening to fly a plane over Vilnius unless the EU refused to support Israel.

Following such a statement from Belarus, Hamas itself soon announced that it had nothing to do with the forced landing of a Ryanair plane, and email provider Proton Technologies AG reported that the letter about the alleged explosive had been sent after the plane was diverted.

“Time to change course”

The Montreal-based Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) announced Thursday that it was launching an investigation into last weekend’s incident.

Borrell said there is the possibility of sanctions against the potash fertilizer sector or a ban on the supply of natural gas to the unit through Belarus due to the “hijacking” of the plane by the regime.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Cichanouskaya on Friday called on the EU to be “bolder” and impose more sanctions on the Minsk regime.

In a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague, Chichanouskaya said that sanctions against certain sectors of the Belarusian economy that the EU is considering are not enough.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned Lukashenko on Friday that “it is time to change course.”

“No repression, cruelty or coercion will legitimize any authoritarian regime. Until now, it has clearly ignored the democratic choice of the Belarusian people, “he said.

The EC chief also called on the Belarusian opposition to say that the EU is “ready to do everything possible to contribute to the peaceful transition to democracy in Belarus” and vowed to establish a € 3 billion support package if Lukashenko leaving office.