DISINFO: The Ryanair plane performed an emergency landing after a bomb threat
SUMMARY
The incident, connected to the Ryanair aircraft that performed an emergency landing at Minsk after a bomb threat.
RESPONSE
Disinformation with a false timeline. Research performed by the Daily Beast and the Newlines magazine demonstrate that the alleged bomb threat was delivered 24 minutes AFTER the Ryanair flight was redirected.
On Sunday, May 23, 2021, the Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was forced to turn back before crossing the Lithuanian border and land in the Belarusian capital. 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.
Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich was detained during a repeated security check of passengers.
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 Mr 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.