Belarus President Defends Plane Diversion, Defying Pressure From West -- 2nd Update
May 26 2021 - 6:39AM
Dow Jones News
By Georgi Kantchev and Ann M. Simmons
MOSCOW -- Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko defended his
handling of the diversion of a Ryanair flight over the weekend and
accused Western leaders of trying to interfere in the country's
affairs, charging that they had crossed red lines in their attacks
on the former Soviet state.
The Belarusian leader said his country was justified in asking
the plane to land, heeding reports that there were explosives on
board, and in doing so had averted a tragedy. He said he had acted
legally to protect people's lives.
"We responded adequately to the information received," Mr.
Lukashenko said in a speech to parliamentarians on Wednesday, his
first comments since the Sunday incident. "How would the United
States react in such a situation in view of their sad
experience?"
European Union and U.S. leaders were swift to condemn the forced
landing of the plane, which was carrying dissident journalist Roman
Protasevich, who was later arrested, and on Monday they agreed to
impose a new round of sanctions on Belarus and ban its airlines
from entering the bloc's airspace and airports.
Western leaders have demanded the release of Mr. Protasevich,
who became one of the lead actors behind a wave of antigovernment
protests last year in the wake of Belarus's August presidential
election. Mr. Lukashenko claimed to have won in a landslide, but
Western officials said the vote was neither free nor fair.
Opponents have been demanding the resignation of the Belarusian
leader, who has been in power since 1994.
"As we predicted, our ill-wishers from outside and inside the
country have changed the methods of attacking the state," Mr.
Lukashenko said. "They crossed the boundaries of common sense and
human morality."
He added, "No sooner had the plane landed in Minsk, carbon-copy
accusations from the West and flight bans started pouring in."
Belarusian authorities in November put Mr. Protasevich on a list
of people involved in terrorist activities. They also started
several criminal cases against him for organizing illegal protests
and disrupting social order. Mr. Protasevich has said he regards
the allegations as political repression. But the day after he was
detained in Minsk, a video circulated on various Belarusian
social-media accounts, including the opposition's, showed him
saying he was in a pretrial detention facility in the Belarusian
capital and confessing to organizing mass riots.
His supporters and parents said they believe his comments were
coerced.
The plane's grounding has raised questions over legality. U.K.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned the move as "a shocking
assault on civil aviation and an assault on international law,"
which "represents a danger to civilian flights everywhere."
Mr. Lukashenko said, "The state that will not succumb to hybrid
pressure can survive. I appeal to the entire world community: There
is no point in shaking Belarus."
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who lives
in exile in Lithuania, said on Wednesday that a new phase of active
antigovernment protests are being prepared.
"There is nothing more to wait for -- terror must be stopped
once and for all," she said in a statement.
Mr. Lukashenko's comments regarding the flight diversion came a
day after Belarusian aviation authorities released a transcript
indicating that the Ryanair pilot repeatedly questioned air-traffic
controllers about their request to reroute the plane to Minsk. The
back-and-forth between the cockpit and ground control suggested the
pilots sought clarity on diverting to Minsk, since the plane was
already nearing the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, its final
destination.
Mr. Lukashenko said that the Ryanair crew consulted with the
owners of the plane and the airport in Vilnius, but decided to land
in Minsk.
A spokeswoman for Lithuania's air-traffic control agency, Oro
Navigacija, said on Tuesday that the crew did not contact the
agency. It is unclear from the transcript that Belarus released
whether the crew was able to communicate with Ryanair.
The airline declined to comment on Mr. Lukashenko's remarks.
The Belarusian leader said that a jet fighter dispatched by the
Belarus air force wasn't meant to intimidate the crew.
"Forcing the liner to land by a MiG-29 fighter is an absolute
lie," Mr. Lukashenko said. "The task of the fighter is to provide
communication and take out a passenger plane for landing in case of
a critical situation."
Mr. Lukashenko also said that the purported warning about a bomb
on the plane, which was flying from Athens, came from
Switzerland.
Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said that
Swiss authorities had no knowledge of a bomb threat on the flight
and have not been in touch with Belarus on the matter.
Belarus had earlier said it had received correspondence from
Hamas, the militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, that a bomb
on board was set to detonate over Vilnius. Hamas hasn't responded
to requests for comment.
"Hamas or no Hamas -- it doesn't matter today," Mr. Lukashenko
said. "I acted legally, protecting people, in accordance with all
international rules."
Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com and Ann M.
Simmons at ann.simmons@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 26, 2021 07:36 ET (11:36 GMT)
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