Belarus accused of hijacking plane

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-5722445

Western countries have condemned Belarus for diverting a plane flying over it territory to arrest a Belarusian opposition journalist.

EU leaders are due to discuss their response to what the union's executive called a "hijacking" and the US state department said was "a shocking act".

Belarus scrambled a fighter jet to force the plane - bound for Lithuania - to land, claiming a bomb threat.

Police came and took Roman Protasevich away when passengers disembarked.

The 26-year-old was aboard the Ryanair plane, which was flying from the Greek ]capital, Athens. The aircraft was due to land in Vilnius, but was still in Belarusian airspace when it was told to divert it to their own capital, Minsk.

Witnesses said the activist was "super-scared" and told fellow passengers he would face the death penalty.

State media in Belarus said President Alexander Lukashenko had personally given the order for the move. The plane landed in Vilnius more than six hours after its scheduled arrival.

How was the flight diverted?

Flight FR4978 turned east to Minsk shortly before it reached the Lithuanian border. Greece and Lithuania put the number of passengers on board at 171.

In a statement, Ryanair said the crew had been "notified by Belarus (Air Traffic Control) of a potential security threat on board and were instructed to divert to the nearest airport, Minsk".

But Tadeusz Giczan - the editor of Nexta, the media outlet Mr Protasevich used to work for - tweeted that agents from Belarusian security service the KGB had boarded the plane and were the source of the bomb alert.

The flight path, visible on the Flightradar24 website, suggests the plane was actually nearer to Vilnius than Minsk when it turned.

Ryanair said checks in Minsk found "nothing untoward", but made no mention of Mr Protasevich.

[Taf]

Landing at Minsk instead of Vilnius? That's about 100 miles, not bad for a Ryanair flight.

[Sephiroth]

Air piracy. Belavia should be immediately be thrown out of IATA and be banned from overflight of any free world territory (many counties will accord with that).

How to enforce that may become a challenge. I can imagine Belarus getting up to all sorts of tricks like stuffing a plane full of political prisoners and then flying over NATO countries to dare air forces to shoot it down.

An immediate trade embargo, of course. Immediate embargo on Irish export goods to Belarus transiting Ulster. The usual stuff.

Discourse needs to be made with Russia, as publicly as possible, in order to get Putin onside. "Pissing in the wind" I hear from Hugh? Perhaps the might be right this time. But putting Putin on the spot is a necessity too.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Air piracy. Belavia should be immediately be thrown out of IATA and be banned from overflight of any free world territory (many counties will accord with that).

How to enforce that may become a challenge. I can imagine Belarus getting up to all sorts of tricks like stuffing a plane full of political prisoners and then flying over NATO countries to dare air forces to shoot it down.

An immediate trade embargo, of course. Immediate embargo on Irish export goods to Belarus transiting Ulster. The usual stuff.

Discourse needs to be made with Russia, as publicly as possible, in order to get Putin onside. "Pissing in the wind" I hear from Hugh? Perhaps the might be right this time. But putting Putin on the spot is a necessity too.

How do we "get Putin on side", he wants Belarus to join his Russian Empire, what are we going to offer to top that, half of Poland

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

How do we "get Putin on side", he wants Belarus to join his Russian Empire, what are we going to offer to top that, half of Poland

Putin only stoops to murder. It's worth putting him on the spot.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Putin only stoops to murder. It's worth putting him on the spot.

Putin doesn't care. He is proud of Lukashenko for what he has done.

Tackle Putin on these issues and he just smirks. He loves playing the bad boy.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Putin doesn't care. He is proud of Lukashenko for what he has done.

Tackle Putin on these issues and he just smirks. He loves playing the bad boy.

Agreed.

[Sephiroth]

Got to be done, though. Can't keep pretending we're all mates.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Got to be done, though. Can't keep pretending we're all mates.

Sorry Seph but Old Boy has called this right. Belarus and Russia are closely intertwined.

Raab points finger at Russia over Belarus ‘hijack’ and arrest of journalist

The Foreign Secretary pointed to the close relationship between Moscow and Minsk.

It is “very difficult to believe” the arrest of a prominent critic of the Belarus regime from a Ryanair flight could have taken place “without at least the acquiescence of the authorities in Moscow”, the Foreign Secretary has said.

Aircraft have been instructed to avoid Belarusian air space following the “state-sponsored hijack” of the flight on Sunday.

Dominic Raab said that although the situation was not yet clear, the relationship between Minsk and Moscow suggested Russian leaders may have been aware of the plans in advance.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/d...s-b936979.html

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Sorry Seph but Old Boy has called this right. Belarus and Russia are closely intertwined.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/d...s-b936979.html

So? Does that mean we just roll over for sky piracy? I don't think so.We have to have international rules or there will be anarchy across the skies.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Maggy

So? Does that mean we just roll over for sky piracy? I don't think so.We have to have international rules or there will be anarchy across the skies.

Old Boy, TheDaddy and I are all arguing that these two countries are so aligned that Putin's not going to take any action against Belarus. Putin was probably briefed on the operation. It doesn't mean that we wouldn't want him to take action against Belarus though.

As to what can be done, I don't think anyone has an answer yet. The work-around seems to be to avoid Belarus airspace and the long-term aim must be to encourage democracy to flourish throughout the world.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Old Boy, TheDaddy and I are all arguing that these two countries are so aligned that Putin's not going to take any action against Belarus. Putin was probably briefed on the operation. It doesn't mean that we wouldn't want him to take action against Belarus though.

As to what can be done, I don't think anyone has an answer yet. The work-around seems to be to avoid Belarus airspace and the long-term aim must be to encourage democracy to flourish throughout the world.

I've already suggested what can be done by removing Belavia from IATA and blacklisting all transport forms from Belarus into or over the EU etc.

As to Putin, I've suggested we try and then see what that brings, including incrimination.

long-term aim must be to encourage democracy to flourish throughout the world.

Yeah right. That's like dealing with Putin!

[1andrew1]

Will be interesting to see if the UK, US, Canada etc follow suit.

EU agrees sanctions on Belarus for forcing down flight

Brussels bans state airline as White House demands inquiry into dissident’s detention

Brussels agreed to ramp up sanctions against Belarus and ban its state airline from EU airports after the Minsk regime triggered global uproar by intercepting a Ryanair flight carrying an opposition activist.

European leaders agreed to “targeted” economic measures that are expected to be aimed at companies and oligarchs accused of financing President Alexander Lukashenko’s 27-year rule.

At a meeting in Brussels on Monday night, the 27-member bloc called for the immediate release of Roman Protasevich, the leading opposition activist, and his partner, Sofia Sapega, who were on the Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius and detained in Minsk on Sunday after authorities forced the aircraft to land.

https://www.ft.com/content/147532bc-...b-748520be6633

[Carth]

I'm sure that a strongly worded letter from the hugely influential EU will soon put them in their place.

Failing that, just don't sell them any fish . . problem solved

Originally Posted by Carth

I'm sure that a strongly worded letter from the hugely influential EU will soon put them in their place.

Failing that, just don't sell them any fish . . problem solved

You must have missed this bit…

European leaders agreed to “targeted” economic measures that are expected to be aimed at companies and oligarchs accused of financing President Alexander Lukashenko’s 27-year rule.