Belarus 'diverts Ryanair flight to arrest journalist', says opposition

[Mr. Sparkle]

Source: BBC



A Ryanair plane flying from Greece to Lithuania has been diverted to Minsk, with Belarusian opposition figures saying it was done so a dissident journalist on board could be arrested. The opposition Nexta channel on Telegram said its ex-editor Roman Protasevich had been detained. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda accused Belarus of an "abhorrent action" and demanded his release.

Belarus state media said the plane had been diverted because of a bomb scare. Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was beaten by Alexander Lukashenko last year in presidential polls widely denounced as rigged, also demanded Mr Protasevich's release. Since August's election the 66-year-old Mr Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994, has cracked down on dissenting voices, with many opposition figures either arrested or, like Ms Tikhanovskaya, fleeing into exile.

In the UK, Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, said that "forcing an aircraft to land to silence opposition voices is an attack on democracy". Russian media quoted the Minsk airport press service as saying the plane had made an emergency landing following a bomb scare. Belta, the state-owned news agency in Belarus, said Mr Lukashenko had personally given the order for the plane to land at Minsk following the bomb alert, and that a MiG-29 fighter jet had been despatched to accompany the Ryanair plane. Nexta said no bomb was found on board and the passengers were searched, after which Mr Protasevich, 26, was detained. In a series of tweets, Ms Tikhanovskaya accused the Belarus government of forcing the plane to land to arrest Mr Protasevich, who she said faced the death penalty as he has been categorised as a terrorist.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57219860

[chowder66]

1. This is appalling. nt

[FelineOverlord]

2. Belarus 'diverts Ryanair flight to arrest journalist', says opposition

This is deeply disturbing and terrifying.

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[Major Nikon]

3. This is what you get when half of US politicians manufacture their own reality

Logic and reason are no longer the cornerstone of foreign policy. Simply provide an alternate explanation, no matter how ridiculous, for a patently egregious act and get away with it. Putin is a master of the technique and all other despotic regimes follow his lead.

[Evolve Dammit]

5. True dat. GOP is modeling the same. Enemies of Democracy, all (except 35) apparently. nt

[Devil Child]

10. So the US Government is responsible for the Belarus Government diverting a flight to arrest someone

at the behest of Belarus president Lukashenko?

Is this full responsibility or partial? A pie-chart of responsibility would help me understand.

[Major Nikon]

13. Believe it or not the breakdown of domestic policy also affects foreign policy

Shouldn’t be that hard to understand, but here we are.

[Devil Child]

14. I'll ask again, the state of the US Gov FP caused Lukashenko to engage in air-piracy kidnapping?

Because yeah, it is hard for me to understand how this is 'Merica's fault. Like directly at fault or more like thrice-removed second cousin sort of at fault?

[LudwigPastorius]

22. Not directly, but...

Russia is a huge supporter of Lukashenko.

There’s no doubt that Trump’s refusal to confront Putin - hell, his praise and admiration of Putin- played into Lukashenko’s belief that he can do whatever he wants with no consequences.

[Devil Child]

25. Lukashenko has been doing what he wants without consequence since 1994.

Therefore Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden have some responsibility. Got it.

But yes, Trump's rhetoric has never been helpful.

[LudwigPastorius]

26. Biden needs to recall the U.S. ambassador (that Trump nominated).

Regardless of the U.S. ability, or inability, to alter Lukashenko's behavior, Trump's sending a U.S. ambassador to Minsk for the first time in 10 years only helped to legitimize his regime.

Interfering with civil aviation by hijacking a flight is a new level of international lawlessness that needs to be met with all available countermeasures.

[Devil Child]

27. In total agreement, an ambassador recall would be an appropriate first response

I think Biden and his team are best suited to respond to Lukashenko's antics.

[FelineOverlord]

4. Belarus 'diverts Ryanair flight to arrest journalist', says opposition

So the imaginary bomb threat led them to arresting an opposition journalist?

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[EX500rider]

7. Because Belarus lied about a bomb threat:

In a statement, Ryanair said the crew were "notified by Belarus (Air Traffic Control) of a potential security threat on board and were instructed to divert to the nearest airport, Minsk".

Also:

The flight path, visible on the flightradar124 website, suggests the plane was actually nearer to Vilnius than Minsk when it turned.

I imagine the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is going to take a dim view of this.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57219860

[mn9driver]

6. If this is accurate, the airspace above Belarus will become very empty, very quickly

International air carriers will cancel all service to Belarus as well. No airline is going to risk their planes, passengers or aircrew by going anywhere near this outlaw state.

[FelineOverlord]

8. Belarus 'diverts Ryanair flight to arrest journalist', says opposition

Link to tweet

[FelineOverlord]

9. Belarus 'diverts Ryanair flight to arrest journalist', says opposition

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[TomWilm]

11. Smells as bad as when the Bolivian president's plane was chased through the EU

In 2013 during the U.S. hunt for Edward Snowden, Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane was forced to land in Austria. Spain, France, Portugal and Italy had closed their airspace under pressure from the United States, who believed a false rumor that Edward Snowden was on board.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Worse - this journalist could face the death penalty for treason

And given the authoritarian nature of Belarus, that's a real possibility.

[TomWilm]

17. - which was just what a former U.S. government suggested for Snowden as well

The former guy:
“Snowden’s a terrible traitor and you know what we used to do in the good old days when we were a strong country, you know what we used to do to traitors right?”

The former Secretary of State for that guy:
“Snowden should be brought back from Russia and given due process, and I think that the proper outcome would be that he would be given a death sentence”

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. The difference is, Snowden's plane was under Obama, not Trump, so what Trump thought

is irrelevant. Plus the journalist actually was on this plane.

[bronxiteforever]

12. Putin has attacked Ireland on two occasions within weeks.

On May 14th, there was a massive cyber attack on the Irish Healthcare system by the Russian based The organised cyber crime group known as ‘Wizard Spider’. The criminal gang has been responsible for hundreds of cyber attacks all over the world; since 2019 it has carried out more than 300.

The organised crime group, according to the intelligence agencies, is based in and around St Petersburg in Russia and consists of approximately 80 employees, some of whom are unaware they are working for a criminal organisation.

Wizard Spider has for many years been a target of the FBI, the UK National Crime Agency, Interpol, Europol and other international law enforcement agencies. It does not carry out attacks on systems in Russia and the group’s key members do not travel outside Russia.

The attack has badly damaged the HSE and the health services. It has had to shut down its systems and bring in specialists to carefully go through each part of its network, step by step, find the malware, block malicious IPs and domain names, protect privileged accounts, clean, rebuild and update all infected devices, ensure antivirus is up to date on all systems, makes sure all devices are patched and ultimately restore the data.
More here
https://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2021/0523/1223337-cyber-attack-hse/

Ryanair is an Irish airline founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, with its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Blinken condemns 'shocking act' after Belarus forces plane carrying opposition journalist to land

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday condemned the forced landing of a Ryanair flight by Belarus and the arrest of an opposition journalist on board, calling it a "shocking act" that endangered the lives of U.S. citizens and everyone else on board.

In a statement, Blinked vowed that the U.S. would respond with its allies in the region, and called for the "immediate release" of journalist Raman Protasevich, who according to reports, was detained by Belarusian security forces after the flight landed.

"The United States once again condemns the Lukashenka regime's ongoing harassment and arbitrary detention of journalists. We stand with the Belarusian people in their aspirations for a free, democratic, and prosperous future and support their call for the regime to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms," said Blinken.

The flight from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania, was ordered to divert and land in Minsk and Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko reportedly personally deployed a fighter jet to force the plane carrying about 170 passengers to land.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/blinken-condemns-shocking-act-after-belarus-forces-plane-carrying-opposition-journalist-to-land/ar-AAKiMfi

[bronxiteforever]

19. +100

[riversedge]

20. looks like the EU will pass out some consequences.

Belarus “showed again its contempt for international community and its citizens,” U.S. Ambassador Julie Fisher said, calling the event “dang https://huffpost.com/entry/opponent-of-belarus-president-arrested-after-flight-diverted_n_60aa7ec8e4b09604b523d764?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004 via @HuffPost

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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/opponent-of-belarus-president-arrested-after-flight-diverted_n_60aa7ec8e4b09604b523d764


...................Belarus “showed again its contempt for international community and its citizens,” U.S. Ambassador Julie Fisher said, calling the event “dangerous and abhorrent.”

European Commision President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that “It is utterly unacceptable to force @Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius to land in Minsk.”

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said “Such an act cannot be left without definite consequences from the side of the European Union” and called for Pratasevich to be released.

Months of protests arose after last August’s presidential election that official results say gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office.

Police cracked down on the protests harshly, detaining around 30,000 people and beating many of them..................

[FelineOverlord]

21. Belarus 'diverts Ryanair flight to arrest journalist', says opposition

🥺

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[LudwigPastorius]

23. EU is about to ban Belarus's planes from

its airspace and airports.



https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eu-mulls-response-belarus-diverting-plane-nab-reporter-77867690

[electric_blue68]

24. Rachel Maddow talking about this now