DISINFO: Belarus saved Europe by allowing the Ryanair plane to land in the country
SUMMARY
The EU threats to suspend flights of European airlines over the territory of Belarus is a violation of all international standards and regulations. Belarus has not done anything wrong. For example, there was a situation when Ukraine turned the Belavia plane back to Kyiv in order to interrogate a journalist - nobody said anything then.
To a large extent, Belarus saved Europe. At the request of the flight crew, the plane was allowed to land in the country, implementing all necessary actions and following all the procedures.
RESPONSE
Disinformation about the Ryanair flight 4978.
On Sunday, 23 May 2021, the Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was forced to turn back minutes before crossing the Lithuanian border and land in the Belarusian capital. The pretext for landing in Minsk was a false report about the bomb on board. At the moment when the plane changed course, it was closer to Vilnius airport than to Minsk. The plane was forced to land in the Belarusian capital by a Belarusian military aircraft. To land in the Belarusian capital was not the Ryanair pilots' decision.
Belarusian opposition journalist and a critic of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Raman Pratasevich was detained during a repeated security check of passengers. Belarusian authorities are persecuting him due to activities in reporting on the 2020 presidential election on his NEXTA Telegram channel used by the country's opposition. The Belarusian security service, KGB, has listed him as a terrorist (Read more about Pratasevich here).
The EU condemned Belarusian action against civil plane and the detention of Pratasevich. In a declaration on behalf of the EU on the forced diversion of Ryanair flight FR4978 to Minsk on 23 May 2021, the High Representative called for the immediate release of Roman Pratasevich. This was followed by a European Council statement, in which the EU leaders called for targeted individual and economic sanctions as well as to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and prevent access to EU airports of flights operated by these.
The Polish authorities accused Belarus of “state terrorism”.
Read more similar disinformation cases alleging that Minsk forced Ryanair flight to land in full accordance with international law and that forcing down aircraft is common practice among special forces.