The United States announced sanctions against Belarus for the hijacking of the plane and described it as “a direct challenge to international standards”.

The United States said on Friday it would impose a series of sanctions against Belarus, following the hijacking of a Ryanair flight on Sunday. and the arrest of a political opponent in Minsk.

In addition to the measures already announced in recent weeks, The White House said in a statement that it was establishing with the European Union “a list of targeted sanctions against key members of (Alexander) Lukashenko’s regime”..

“The forced hijacking by Belarus, under false pretenses, of a Ryanair commercial flight operating between two European Union member states” Yes the arrest of journalist Román Protasévich “constitutes a direct challenge to international standards”White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Economic sanctions against nine Belarusian state-owned enterprises, reimposed in April following a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, will come into effect on June 3.

Following the contested 2006 elections, Washington has banned all transactions with these companies.

The US Treasury subsequently suspended these sanctions in 2015, welcoming some progress, but the US government warned at the end of March that this suspension could not be renewed at the next deadline.

The White House has also issued a “Do not travel” to Belarus warning to US citizens and warned US passenger planes to “exercise extreme caution” if they plan to fly over Belarusian airspace.

He further confirmed that the Ministry of Justice, including The FBI is investigating the incident in cooperation with its European counterparts.

The EU, for its part, is studying the possibility of sanctions against Belarus, which could target potash exports and Russian gas transit, two major sources of revenue for the country, EU diplomat Josep Borrell said on Thursday.

Brussels has asked airlines to avoid Belarus.

Minsk maintains that the plane was hijacked due to a bomb threat and that the arrest of Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, was dangerous.

The alleged bomb threat against the Ryanair flight, which the Belarusian government used as an argument to force a landing in Minsk, was received after the hijacking of the plane.Swiss-based courier company Proton Technologies said.

The company, which boasts of protecting the data of its users, declined to comment in detail on the email in question and assured that, being encrypted, “Its content cannot be viewed or verified”. “However, we can see when the message was sent and this particular email was sent after the hijacking,” the company said.

Lukashenko drew international criticism when he decided to intercept, using an air force fighter, the Ryanair flight between Athens and Vilnius, in which Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, were arrested after the emergency landing. Belarusian authorities claimed that Minsk airport received an email signed by the Islamist movement Hamas informing that there was a bomb on board and that the message came from a protonmail.com address.

The transcript of the exchanges between the control tower and the aircraft shows that the pilot was informed of the threat at 9:30 a.m. GMT and that a landing one minute later in Minsk was recommended.

According to Belarusian authorities, the e-mail in question ended with the following threat: “We know that participants at the Delphi Economic Forum are returning home on flight FR4978. A bomb was planted on board this plane. If they don’t respond to our demands, he will explode at Vilna’s height. Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest, in Arabic) ”.

(With information from AFP)

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