Belarus hijacked a Ryanair plane and stopped a …

Roman Protasevich, journalist and opponent of the government of Alexander Lukashenko, was arrested on Sunday after a Belarusian fighter jet intercepted flight by Ryanair and divert it to Minsk for a suspected bomb threat. European Union (EU) leaders condemned the incident and NATO members demanded an investigation into “the serious and dangerous incident”.

Protasevich, 26, was arrested along with his partner, Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen and law student at the European University of the Humanities (EHU) in Lithuania. Both were traveling on a Ryanair flight to Vilnius which was confused while in Belarusian airspace.

“It appears that the intention of the authorities was to take a journalist and his traveling companion,” said the executive director of the airline. at low price irlandesa, Michael O’Leary. “We believe there were also KGB agents (of the Belarusian security agency) deployed at the airport, “added the executive and assured that” it was a state-sponsored kidnapping, it was state-sponsored hacking.

Until recently, Protasevich and his colleague Stepan Putilo ran the Nexta and Nexta Live channels on Telegram – with nearly two million subscribers – from where they called for protests against the Lukashenko government, which wields power in the territory. Soviet since 1994.

In 2020, Protasevich and Putilo were included in the Belarusian list of “individuals involved in terrorist activities”. They both went toaccused of provoking mass riots, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

After the journalist’s arrest, the Belarusian foreign minister insisted that the country had acted legally and accused the West of trying to “play politics”.

“There is no doubt that the actions of our competent authorities … have fully complied with established international standards,” ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said in a statement, in which he accused the West of “politicizing “the situation and assured that” baseless “charges are laid. “

Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tijanóvskaya has said from exile in Lithuania that “it is absolutely obvious that this is a secret service operation to capture the plane in order to arrest activist and blogger Roman Protasevich “.

Rejection of the EU and NATO

Representatives of the EU and other Western countries had previously imposed sanctions on Lukashenko’s government for cracking down on protests after he was re-elected to his sixth term in an election the opposition describes as fraudulent.

The hijacking of the plane and the arrest of Protasevich were described as “scandalous and illegal” by the head of the EU, Ursula von der LeyenWhile Poland denounced “an act of state terrorism” and France called for a “strong and united response”.

NATO demanded an investigation into “the serious and dangerous incident” and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called it “shocking” for endangering “the lives of more than 120 passengers, including American citizens ”.

Russian support

Russia, Belarus’ main ally, has shown little concern and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman María Zajárova criticized Western outrage.

“We are surprised that the West is calling the incident in Belarusian airspace ‘shocking’,” Zakharova said on Facebook, accusing the West of “kidnappings, forced landings and illegal detentions.”