Following the results of the last summit, the leaders of the EU countries issued a statement in which they decided to ban Belarusian airlines from flying to EU airports and fly over the territory of the European Union and called on the air carriers of the European Union to abandon flights over the territory of the republic.
In addition, the EU demanded the immediate release of the detained Roman Protasevich and decided to urgently introduce new sanctions against Minsk.
Also Belarus and Latvia announced the mutual expulsion of all diplomats. This happened after the incident with the national flag of Belarus. On May 24, the flag hung in the center of the Latvian capital along with the flags of other countries participating in the 2021 World Cup was replaced with a white-red-white canvas against the background of Ryanair flight reports. After that, the ambassador of Latvia was offered to leave Belarus within 24 hours, and then the parties expelled the entire diplomatic staff.
Let us remind you that a Ryanair plane on the Athens-Vilnius flight made an emergency landing in Minsk the day before.
According to the head of the aviation department of the Ministry of Transport of Belarus, Artyom Sikorsky, a message from the Hamas group was sent to the e-mail of the Minsk National Airport from the e-mail address protonmail.com in English, which contained a threat to mine the airliner.
To accompany the aircraft, a MiG-29 fighter of the Armed Forces of the republic was raised.
Reuters
No explosives were found during the inspection of the aircraft.
The Investigative Committee of Belarus opened criminal proceedings on the fact of “knowingly false reporting of danger under Part 1 of Art.
340 of the Criminal Code ".
Later, an official representative of the Hamas movement said that the group had nothing to do with the incident and did not use such methods.
After landing, the founder of the NEXTA Telegram channel recognized as extremist in the republic, Roman Protasevich, who was believed to be involved in terrorist activities in Belarus, was detained.
Immediately after the incident, a number of European countries demanded that the Belarusian authorities release Protasevich.
In particular, legislators from eight countries (USA, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic) called on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to immediately investigate the incident with Ryanair, as well as ban flights over the republic.
In turn, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Washington condemns the actions of the Belarusian authorities, which, according to the American side, interfered with the flight between the two countries in order to detain the journalist.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the issue of Protasevich's detention is an internal matter of Belarus.
She drew attention to the fact that Moscow is closely following the development of events, and, according to official reports from the Belarusian side, the landing took place in accordance with aviation security rules.
“The actions of the Belarusian aviation authorities were in line with international standards.
The fighter of the Air Force of Belarus was raised into the air for control and assistance in landing if necessary, especially taking into account the location of the Belarusian nuclear power plant nearby, ”Zakharova emphasized.
The coordinated reaction to these events by representatives of a number of Western countries and international organizations, including the EU, NATO and the OSCE, is surprising, she added, since the West reacted differently to similar events that happened earlier in other countries.
“We call on our Western partners to refrain from applying“ double standards ”and take measures to soberly, without emotion, assess the situation on the basis of all available materials in cooperation with the Belarusian aviation authorities, demonstrating openness and readiness for interaction,” concluded Zakharova.
Roman Protasevich
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Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus told that Protasevich is in a pre-trial detention center in Minsk, he did not express any complaints about his health condition.
The TV channel "Belarus-1" published a video on which Protasevich says that he is giving confessions.
“I am in jail No. 1. I continue to cooperate with the investigation, I give confessions on the fact of organizing mass riots in Minsk,” he says.
According to the Telegram channel "Pool of the First", the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday will make a statement about the situation with the landing of the Ryanair aircraft.
Proposal for sanctions against Moscow
Against the background of the incident, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said that London would consider a proposal to introduce restrictive measures against the Nord Stream 2 and Yamal-Europe pipelines after the emergency landing incident, as well as other possibilities of sanctions pressure.
In particular, Raab expressed doubts that the incident with Rayanair could have happened without "at least the tacit consent of Moscow."
Vladimir Shapovalov, director of the Institute of History and Politics at Moscow State Pedagogical University, in a conversation with RT, noted that Raab's statements speak of the level and quality of diplomatic thinking of Western leaders.
“First, it is obvious that relations between Russia and the UK leave much to be desired.
To spoil them further, I think, is not in the interests of Great Britain.
Secondly, it is clear that Russia has nothing to do with the actions of Belarus, a sovereign state, ”he stressed.
As Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies, IMEMO RAS, noted, Dominik Raab “practices Russophobia” - both when there is an excuse and when it is not.
"The UK takes a stereotyped position here - some situation is called, while no argumentation is provided, but it is immediately proposed to proceed to actions to take some restrictive measures," the expert said.