After the forced landing in Belarus by fighter jet and the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich, the Ryanair plane arrived at its destination in Vilnius. This was announced by the Irish airline in the evening. The fact that one less passenger was on board the onward flight from Minsk to Lithuania is not mentioned in the communication from Ryanair.
The crew of the aircraft had been informed by Belarus that there might be a security threat on board, according to the statement. They were asked to fly to Minsk, the densest airport. Nothing “unseemly” was found and the plane was allowed to take off after about seven hours in Minsk.
Throughout Europe, politicians express horror at the arrest of Protasevich, speak of “kidnapping” and “piracy”.
The Belarusian opposition accused Alexander Lukashenko of state terrorism in Minsk for forcing the plane to land. Former Culture Minister Pavel Latushko, who is in exile in the EU as an opposition activist, said that in addition to Protasevich, who was arrested in Minsk, several passengers, including a citizen from Belarus and four Russians, had not made the onward journey. There was no official confirmation of this at first.
Referring to his contacts, Latushko said that the flight control center in Minsk had threatened the pilot with a shooting down of the plane if they did not land. In addition, a MiG-29 fighter jet armed with rockets had climbed up to force the aircraft to turn around and hit the ground.
The authorities in Minsk confirmed that a fighter jet was taking off, but not the threat against the pilots. Instead, state media in Minsk reported that the pilots themselves had requested a landing in Minsk after an alleged bomb threat. This was contradicted by numerous experts, because the plane had already been closer to its destination in Vilnius than to Minsk before it was diverted.
After landing, according to Belarusian authorities, it turned out that there was no explosive device on board. According to the Wesna Human Rights Centre, however, political activist and blogger Protasevich was arrested. There was no official information about his whereabouts.
