/nginx/o/2021/05/25/13803183t1h4d97.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "German Foreign Minister: Lukashenko to pay bitterly for forced landing of Ryanair plane – Abroad – News")
“Every dictator playing with such ideas should make it clear that the pay will be bitter,” the minister told reporters in Berlin, saying the day after European Union leaders agreed to sever European air links with Belarus and impose new economic sanctions. .
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“Our aim has always been to take these steps against Lukashenko and his regime, not against the civilian population, who are already suffering under the regime,” he added.
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The nurse said she would discuss the next steps with her EU colleagues in talks in Lisbon this week.
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The EU is working in “close coordination” with the US, the minister said.
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The forced landing of the plane was a “terrible act” that endangered the lives of more than 170 people, the nurse said.
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“These were attacks on aviation security, freedom of the press and European citizens on board,” the German minister said.
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It has already been reported that on Sunday a Ryanair passenger plane en route from Athens to Vilnius in Belarusian airspace near the Lithuanian border had to change course and go to Minsk, where Belarusian criminal police detained one of its passengers, opposition leader Svyatlan Cihany. Roman Protasevich, a founder of the opposition media and founder and former editor-in-chief of the opposition media Nexta, is facing the death penalty in Belarus. Protasevich’s girlfriend Sofia Sapega, who was also among the plane’s passengers, was also detained.
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The European Council agreed on Monday evening on economic and personnel sanctions against Belarus, including a ban on Belarusian airlines flying in EU airspace and access to EU airports. The European Council also called for the immediate release of Protasevich and Sapega and for their freedom of movement to be guaranteed.
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