Pressure was building Monday for a tough international response to Belarus’s forced landing of a European airliner so it could arrest an opposition activist.
The Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying dissident journalist Roman Protasevich was diverted while in Belarusian airspace on Sunday over a supposed bomb threat.
Accompanied by a Belarusian fighter jet on the orders of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the plane landed in the capital Minsk where Protasevich, a 26-year-old who had been living in Lithuania, was arrested along with his Russian girlfriend.
The move sparked an international outcry, with Western leaders accusing Belarusian authorities of essentially hijacking a European plane.
As EU leaders prepared to meet for a summit later on Monday, Brussels said it had summoned the Belarusian ambassador to condemn the “coercive act”.
Belarus’s exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said Protasevich’s life was in danger, calling for an international investigation and concrete steps against the regime.
Belarus on Monday insisted the country had acted legally and accused the West of playing politics. “There is no doubt that the actions of our competent authorities… fully met established international rules,” foreign ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said in a statement, accusing the West of “politicising” the situation.
The diversion of the plane was condemned in Europe, with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen describing it as “outrageous and illegal”, Poland denouncing it as “an act of state terrorism” and France calling for a “strong and united response”.
NATO demanded a probe into the “serious and dangerous incident” and alliance envoys were to discuss it on Tuesday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called it “a shocking act” that “endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers.”
