Flight with Protasevich already diverted to Minsk for bomb threat | Abroad

The reading of the internet company is at odds with that of the authorities in Belarus. They stated that a bomb threat was the reason that the passenger plane with the wanted Protasevich had to land in Minsk. There, the authorities arrested the dissident and his Russian girlfriend. They found no explosive and the Ryanair plane was later allowed to fly to Lithuania without the couple.

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has said that the bomb threat came from Switzerland, but the government of the Alpine country says it knows nothing about it. Proton Technologies, too, says it has “seen no credible evidence that Belarus’s reading is correct.” Authorities in the Eastern European country have also said it was a threatening message from Hamas, which subsequently denied all involvement.

Allahu Akbar

The magazine Newlines had previously reported that the bomb threat did not arrive until late. This happened 24 minutes after the pilot of the Ryanair plane was warned by air traffic control in Belarus that there might be a bomb on board. The mail would have had the subject “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest) and sent with a Proton mail account.

European leaders strongly condemned the diversion of Protasevich’s flight. They are pushing for new punitive measures against the Lukashenko regime. This was already under international fire because it violently suppressed protests against the results of the presidential elections.

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