As reported, on Sunday, a Ryanair passenger plane en route from Athens to Vilnius in Belarusian airspace near the Lithuanian border forcibly change course and to go to Minsk, where the Belarusian criminal police detained one of its passengers – a member of the headquarters of opposition leader Svetlana Tihanovskaya, founder and editor – in – chief of the opposition media “Nexta” Roman Protasevich, who is facing the death penalty in Belarus.
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According to information published by Belarus, on May 23, air traffic controllers at Minsk Airport informed the pilots that, according to information received from the security services, there was a bomb on board the aircraft that was to be detonated over Vilnius.
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The dispatcher then says that the information about the bomb on the plane was sent electronically to several airports. The dispatcher also offers the flight crew to make an emergency landing in Minsk for security reasons.
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In turn, the Ryanair pilot asks the controller who has directly recommended an emergency landing – Ryanair, Athens Airport, Vilnius Airport or Minsk Airport.
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“This is our recommendation,” the dispatcher replies.
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By the time the plane was instructed to change course in Belarusian airspace, it was already closer to Vilnius than to Minsk. An airplane was escorted by a Belarusian air force to get the plane to Minsk airport.
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The excerpt of the conversation published by Belarus ends at the moment when the pilot discusses the technical parameters of the emergency landing with the controller.
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In response to Belarus’ actions, the European Council agreed on Monday evening on an economic and personal one imposing sanctions on Belarus, including banning Belarusian airlines from operating in European Union (EU) airspace and denying them access to EU airports. The European Council also called for the immediate release of Protasevich and his girlfriend and for their freedom of movement to be guaranteed.
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