The UN agency will investigate the hijacking of the plane in Belarus and the G7 warned that there could be new sanctions against Lukashenko

The Foreign Ministers of the countries that make up the G7 and the High Representative of the European Union for foreign policy, Josep borrell, they warned this Thursday that they could apply new sanctions against the Belarusian regime for the forced hijacking of a plane to Minsk to stop dissident Roman Protasevich.

In a statement, foreign officials from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, US and Borrell condemned Belarus’ action “in terms the strongest “, which they described as “unprecedented”.

In this context, they assured that the behavior of Minsk put the safety of passengers and flight crew ‘at risk’, before asserting that in addition, it constituted a “serious attack” against the standards which govern civil aviation.

“All our countries and our citizens depend on all States to act in a way responsible by fulfilling its obligations under the Chicago Convention so that civil aircraft can operate safely, ”they said, calling on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to respond“urgently” It is “in defiance of its rules and regulations ”.

At the same time, the G7 and Borrell argued that the incident represented a “serious attack” on press freedom. Yes indeed, demanded the “immediate and unconditional” release of Protasevich and the rest of Belarusian journalists and political prisoners.

The parents of the dissident journalist asked this Thursday helps release your child. “I want to speak to you as Roman’s mother, I want you to hear my cry, the cry of my soul, so that you understand how difficult it is for us to go through this nonsense, this situation,” said Natalia Protasevich at a press conference in Warsaw.

“I want you to convey our request to the world, to government officials, to EU leaders, to US leaders: I cry out, I beg you, help me free my son.”she added, visibly moved.

Roman’s father, Dmitry, said his son is “a strong man”. Protasevich’s parents moved to Poland eight months ago, after having suffered the repression against unprecedented protests after presidential election of August 2020.

“We will intensify our efforts, including through further sanctions, where appropriate, to promote accountability for the actions of Belarusian authorities.”the G7 and Borrell have warned.

The European Union this week approved sanctions against Minsk, including ban on flights of airlines of the former soviet republic. In addition, it provides that certain sanctions against certain economic sectors of the country will come into force in the coming weeks.

Bloc could hit Belarus hard with sanctions against exports of potash and the transit of gas for its territory, as a sanction for the hijacking of a civil aircraft, said the head of European diplomacy in an interview with the agency AFP.

“Belarus is a major exporter of potash, valued at around $ 2.5 billion. All of this goes through the Baltic States. It’s easy to control, if you really want to. “Borrell explained ahead of an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Lisbon.

“We can also imagine that the gas reaching Europe via Belarus does so via another pipeline, and Belarus would lose the rights of way, which is not negligible,” he added.

The airline company Austrian airlines Thursday canceled a flight between Vienna and Moscow after Russia refused to allow a rerouting to avoid Belarusian airspace. The German group Lufthansa, parent company of Austrian Airlines, said that “All companies in the Lufthansa group are currently avoiding Belarusian airspace.”

Austrian Airlines has suspended overflight of Belarusian airspace until further notice due to a recommendation from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the company said.

With these airspace closures, the main opposition leader Svetlana Tijanovskaya stressed that Belarusians “no longer have the possibility of fleeing the country if they want to escape the regime”. and that the Belarusian opposition in exile study the possibility of “urgently evacuating the persecuted people”, he told the AFP of his exile in Lithuania.

Belarus has the strong support of its main ally, Russia, which indicates “no reason not to believe the statements of Belarusian leaders” on the affair. Thursday Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov demanded that “stop demonizing people the West doesn’t want”. Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin will meet next Friday in Russia.

UN aviation agency announces investigation

The United Nations civil aviation agency announced on Thursday that will launch an investigation into the hijacking, on May 23, by Belarus of a European plane and the arrest of a critical journalist on board.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) “has decided to investigate the facts of this event,” she said in a statement. The note also added that, during a meeting, the body “stressed the importance of establishing the facts of what happened and understanding whether an ICAO Member State has violated international aviation law “.

The Council “requested the ICAO Secretariat to prepare a interim report to the Council for a meeting after the current session ”.

With information from Europa Press and AFP

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