By Thomas Grove
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has become the target
of international outrage following his decision to employ a war
plane to divert a Ryanair flight to his country's capital of Minsk
to detain an opposition journalist and activiston May 23.
Days after the incident he spoke to parliamentarians to publicly
defend his grounding of the plane and accuse the West of meddling
in the country's affairs.
The European Union has agreed on fresh sanctions against
Belarus, promising to bar the country's airline Belavia from its
airspace. The move shows Belarus, which has started a crackdown
against the opposition at home, is willing to track exiled
activists down as well.
What happened and why did Belarus divert a Ryanair flight?
While flying over Belarusian airspace, pilots on Ryanair Flight
4978 received a warning from air-traffic controllers that there was
a potential security threat on board, and a MiG-29 was sent to
escort the Boeing 737-800 to the Belarusian capital. Minutes before
the plane was meant to cross into Lithuanian airspace, the plane
made a sharp right and landed at the Minsk airport.
A transcript released by the Belarusian aviation agency, which
wasn't independently by The Wall Street Journal, showed that a
Ryanair pilot repeatedly asked for clarification over ground
controller's request that the plane reroute to Minsk.
No security threat was found on board. The plane, the passengers
and their luggage were searched for several hours. When the plane
took off, Belarusian passenger Roman Protasevich, an opposition
activist who had carried out his opposition activities against
President Alexander Lukashenko from exile, wasn't on board. Neither
was his Russian girlfriend, who was traveling with him. Opposition
activists say he was detained by security forces at the
airport.
To justify the move, the Belarus Transport Ministry said it
received an email from Hamas, claiming it had put a bomb on board
the plane.
Mr. Lukashenko told parliamentarians on Wednesday that his
government had acted responsibly on information that a bomb was on
board the plane. He also said pressure from the West was an attempt
to meddle in Belarus' affairs.
Who is Roman Protasevich?
Mr. Protasevich is a longtime opposition activist who left
Belarus in 2019, fearing arrest. He has lived the past several
years mostly in neighboring Lithuania, which has become an
outspoken opponent of Mr. Lukashenko's regime. The president's
harsh tactics against the opposition have led some to call him
Europe's last dictator. It was from abroad that Mr. Protasevich led
coverage for the opposition Telegram channel Nexta of the 2020
Belarusian presidential elections and protests that followed. Many
Belarusians believed the vote was falsified and accused Mr.
Lukashenko of stealing the vote, causing a nationwide protest
movement against him.
Why did Belarus President Lukashenko want to arrest Mr.
Protasevich?
In a country where the media has largely been muzzled by the
state, Nexta videos brought Belarusians unflinching coverage of the
protests, including some of the worst police violence against
protesters. Under Mr. Protasevich's editorship, Nexta grew to at
least 1.5 million subscribers and helped fuel the protest
movement.
Last year, Mr. Protasevich was accused of organizing mass riots
and other crimes. Belarusian security forces, which go by their
Soviet-era title, the KGB, put him on a list of terrorists for
having incited mass unrest. He says the allegations are being used
as political pressure against him.
How has Ryanair reacted?
Ryanair Holdings PLC's chief executive, Michael O'Leary, has
called the incident a case of state-sponsored hijacking, and says
he believes members of the Belarusian KGB were on the flight,
tailing Mr. Protasevich. "We believe there were some KGB agents
unloaded at the airport as well," he told Ireland's Newstalk radio
channel.
Mr. O'Leary said the airline was debriefing the crew and that
the incident was frightening for passengers and crew, saying they
were held under armed guard and had their bags searched.
Ryanair, a budget carrier and one of Europe's largest airlines,
said it was assessing whether or not to continue to fly over
Belarus airspace and was awaiting guidance from European aviation
regulators. Two other airlines, Wizz Air Holdings PLC and AS Air
Baltic Corp., both said they would no longer fly over the
country.
What happens next?
Mr. Lukashenko is expected to meet Mr. Putin later this week in
what will be Moscow's clearest signal of support to Belarus since
the incident. The meeting stands in contrast to the fresh sanctions
slapped on Belarus by EU leaders. In a meeting on Monday, they
called on European-based airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace and
promised to work to ban Belarusian airlines from the bloc's
airspace and airports.
Lithuania has already shut its airspace to Belarus. U.K. Foreign
Secretary Dominic Raab earlier said Britain was suspending the
operating permit of Belarus's national airline and advising U.K.
airlines to avoid the former Soviet country's airspace.
The move could have severe implications for revenue of the state
airline, which has flights across Europe.
The European Council also called for the release of Mr.
Protasevich and his girlfriend, who was detained with him.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has likewise condemned
the actions, saying Washington demands an international
investigation and is "coordinating with our partners on next
steps."
Write to Thomas Grove at thomas.grove@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 26, 2021 13:27 ET (17:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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