The European Union ordered European airlines to avoid flying over Belarus after the country grounded a passenger plane to arrest an opposition journalist and his girlfriend.
On May 24, the European Council stated that it will ban Belarus’s state-owned Belavia airline from entering European airspace and promised economic sanctions. Ukraine said it would ban all flights to and from Belarus, effectively cutting the country off from the democratic world starting from May 26.
The news comes amid growing concern over the well-being of prominent Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich (Raman Pratasevich) and his Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega, who were abducted from a plane traveling from Athens to Vilnius on May 23.
The Ryanair plane was forced to land in Minsk after being intercepted by a Belarusian fighter jet. The plane was passing through Belarus’s airspace and was 10 minutes away from the Lithuanian border when it was forced to turn around. Belarusian authorities falsely claimed that the plane had a bomb on it.
On May 25, a video of Protasevich was published by a low-profile Telegram channel linked to Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. In the video, the journalist “confesses” to being involved in organizing mass protests in Belarus, which began after Lukashenko was crowned the winner of a rigged presidential election in August.
The journalist’s statement appears to have been extracted under duress.
“It’s likely his nose is broken because the shape of it has changed and there’s a lot of powder on it,” Protasevich’s father Dmitry Protasevich told Reuters. “I think he was forced (to confess).”
Protasevich’s girlfriend Sapega was arrested for two months. The charges against her are unknown. She remains in jail in Minsk.
Belarusian journalist and activist Roman Protasevich, 26, appears in an undated video released by a Belarusian Telegram channel and shared on the Belarus state TV. In the video, Protasevich reads out what appears to be a forced confession of organizing mass protests in Belarus. (AFP)
Abducting Protasevich
The appalling violation of international law occurred on May 23, when the passenger plane landed in Minsk on Lukashenko’s orders.
“This was a case of state-sponsored hijacking… state-sponsored piracy,” said Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair.
Belarusian authorities’ only goal appeared to have been the abduction of Protasevich.
The journalist co-founded the NEXTA Telegram channel, which served as a primary independent news source in Belarus during last year’s demonstrations seeking to overturn the results of the presidential election, rigged by Lukashenko, the country’s authoritarian ruler since 1994.
According to Belarus pro-government Telegram channels, Lukashenko personally ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the civilian aircraft. Authorities in Belarus claimed they were responding to a bomb threat from Hamas, the Islamist terror group in control of the Gaza Strip.
This claim turned out to be false. Hamas issued a statement denying Belarus’s claims.
On May 25, Belarus’s Transport Ministry published a fragment of the conversation between the Minsk airport control tower and the pilot of the Ryanair flight FS4978.
Belarusian air traffic control said it received an email about an onboard bomb that will explode over Vilnius and ordered the plane to head for Minsk.
After consulting with the company and waiting over 16 minutes in the air, the pilot complied and turned the plane towards the Belarusian capital.
The aircraft spent seven hours on the ground in Minsk. Two people were abducted and three left the plane on their own. O’Leary claimed that there were Belarus KGB agents on the plane.
Pratasevich has been denied a lawyer and his only appearance after the incident was in the staged video confession.
Sapega’s last known communication was texting the word “mum” to her mother.
The Russian Foreign Ministry made a statement saying that Sapega has been detained and is under trial for “violating Belarus law in August-September.”
International outrage
Protasevich’s abduction caused international outrage overshadowing the European reaction to Lukashenko’s election fraud and torturing of opposition activists in August.
The first to react was Lithuania, where the plane was headed.
“I appeal to allies in NATO and the European Union to immediately respond to the threat posed by the Belarus regime to international civil aviation,” said President Gitanas Nausėda.
Lithuania soon closed its airspace to planes traveling to and over Belarus. Ukraine followed suit on May 25.
“Belarusian authorities will stop at nothing to persecute dissenters. Even its airspace is unsafe now,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter. “Ukraine has always been interested in a democratic Belarus where human rights are respected.”
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the incident “an act of state terrorism.”
“It’s an unprecedented attack against the international community,” said Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Simonyte.
Latvia on May 24 replaced the official red-green flag of Belarus with the red-white-red flag of the opposition at the flag display in Riga. This led to a termination of diplomatic ties between Latvia and Belarus.
U.S. President Joe Biden chimed in as well, saying, “This outrageous incident and the video Protasevich appears to have made under duress are shameful assaults on both political dissent and the freedom of the press.”
Late on May 24, the European Council convened an extraordinary meeting and delivered a harsh rebuke to Lukashenko’s actions.
“The hijacking of the Ryanair plane by the Belarus regime is an attack on democracy. An attack on freedom of expression. An attack on European sovereignty,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, after the meeting.
“Protasevich & Sapega must be released immediately,” she added.
According to von der Leyen, the EU will sanction individuals involved in the hijacking, businesses that finance Lukashenko’s regime and Belarus’s aviation sector. Belavia has been banned from entering the sky over Europe. Belarus is expected to lose at least $50-70 million in tariffs after turning into a European no-fly zone.
“We have a 3 billion euro economic and investment package ready to go for Belarus, when it becomes democratic,” von der Leyen said.
This is the EU’s second round of sanctions on Belarus since Lukashenko stole the 2020 presidential elections and imprisoned most of his political opponents.
Earlier restrictions imposed on Oct. 1 included a travel ban and asset freeze against individuals associated with the government. The list includes 88 people and seven companies.
These sanctions were criticized for being too soft.
However, even in light of tougher sanctions, Lukashenko’s regime isn’t expected to collapse in the near future.
Belarus shares a 1,239-kilometer border with Russia, which has promised to keep its regime afloat. Russia has invested financially and politically into Belarus and is now keen to maintain the pariah state in its grip.
“Russia, of course, will not leave Belarus in trouble,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Even before the election, Russia was Belarus’ main debt holder and had been responsible for over 40% of direct investments into the country.
Russia has maintained Belarus’ regime by providing it with cheap oil and gas, which Belarus refined and sold to the EU and Ukraine.
Ukraine’s parliament has called on the government to ban imports of diesel and electricity from Belarus, stopping the indirect financing of Belarus’ dictatorship.
