Belarus scrambled fighter and flagged false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane to land then detained an opposition-minded journalist who was on board, drawing criticism from across Europe
Some nations, as far as foreign policy goes, make a point to refrain from interfering with the internal affairs of other nations. Regardless of what such a nation thinks of the political situation...
Some nations, as far as foreign policy goes, make a point to refrain from interfering with the internal affairs of other nations. Regardless of what such a nation thinks of the political situation in Belarus, this tradition precludes involvement.
That is no longer the situation here. This is interference in the national sovereignty of both Greece and Lithuania. There's historic precedence here: stopping, searching, and seizing the occupants of vessels transporting between nations has been historically cause for war, or at least strong rebuke by any nation.
Keep an eye out for how NATO addresses this. I take the silence from the US as not a refusal to enter European affairs, but as them taking care to handle this complicated situation appropriately to balance their interests.
Liberals are likely to strongly condemn the jailing of a journalist on ideological grounds, but as far as how this situation plays out I predict this will be a tertiary concern. Of course, this critique may be played up in the media to justify aggressive actions to their liberal audience made for other reasons.
From Secretary of State Blinken: Seems pretty good for an initial response / statement. Definitely interested in seeing how strongly they follow-through.
Keep an eye out for how NATO addresses this. I take the silence from the US as not a refusal to enter European affairs, but as them taking care to handle this complicated situation appropriately to balance their interests.
We strongly condemn the Lukashenka regime's brazen and shocking act to divert a commercial flight and arrest a journalist. We demand an international investigation and are coordinating with our partners on next steps. The United States stands with the people of Belarus.
Seems pretty good for an initial response / statement. Definitely interested in seeing how strongly they follow-through.
Diversion of Ryanair Flight to Belarus and Arrest of Journalist
Press Statement
Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State
May 23, 2021
The United States strongly condemns the forced diversion of a flight between two EU member states and the subsequent removal and arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich in Minsk. We demand his immediate release. This shocking act perpetrated by the Lukashenka regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers, including U.S. citizens. Initial reports suggesting the involvement of the Belarusian security services and the use of Belarusian military aircraft to escort the plane are deeply concerning and require full investigation.
We are closely coordinating our response with our partners, including the EU and Lithuanian and Greek officials. Given indications the forced landing was based on false pretenses, we support the earliest possible meeting of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization to review these events.
Independent media are an essential pillar supporting the rule of law and a vital component of a democratic society. 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.
From the perspective of international law, it is difficult to overstate the seriousness of Belarus’ actions.
In examining those treaties, one can immediately see the outline of a powerful case as to why Belarus’ actions violate international law. Article 1(1)(e) of the Montreal Convention creates an international crime where a person unlawfully and intentionally “communicates information which he knows to be false, thereby endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight.” Secondly, per Article 10 of the Montreal Convention, a state must “in accordance with international and national law, endeavour to take all practicable measures for the purpose of preventing the offenses mentioned in Article 1.”
It follows that, in contriving an emergency landing of Flight FR4978 off the back of a fake bomb threat, Belarus committed an outrageous breach of the Montreal Convention.
A bunch more related news: Poland condemns detention of Belarus opposition activist Germany demands Belarus explain diversion of Ryanair flight France discussing suspension of Belarus transport...
More updates from today: Belarus leader claims plane diversion protected passengers, says country is under ‘hybrid attack’ Belarus closing Canadian embassy as PM Trudeau condemns regime Belarus:...
Some more updates from today: Russia refuses to allow European planes to land in Moscow Belarus airline scraps flights amid EU freeze-out An exclusively obtained record shows that the Ryanair...
Will update this comment throughout the day so I don't keep bumping this topic. And the reason I'm still posting everything here is so people can simply ignore this topic if they don't want to get keep getting minor updates about this situation.
Grain of salt advised, as this is from his (ex?) colleague: https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1396446650718117890 If that's true, holy fucking shit, what a stinker.
Grain of salt advised, as this is from his (ex?) colleague:
He's subsequently contradicted this claim in a quote from another party. https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1396498215202140164?s=20 I'm certain we'll be getting facts of what actually...
Counter point: https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1396598294479097862 Apparently, there were operatives on board, though they didn't call in the "bomb threat". Grain of salt still advised.
Looks like there might be some validity to the claim: Belarus KGB believed to be on plane forced to land in Minsk, says Ryanair CEO cc: @RNG edit: better source
In an interview on Newstalk Breakfast, the Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary, said that “it appears the intent of the authorities was to remove a journalist and his travelling companion … we believe there were some KGB agents offloaded at the airport as well”.
O’Leary’s remarks were the first official confirmation of reports that four other passengers had disembarked in Minsk after the emergency landing, driving speculation that Protasevich was being shadowed by the security services before the plane was forced to land. O’Leary said he believed it was the first time such an incident had taken place with a European airline.
According to colleagues, Protasevich had sent them messages claiming he was being followed by a man in the departure lounge in Athens he suspected was a Belarusian KGB agent. The man was said to have been behind him in the queue to board. He was said to have tried to take a photo of his documents before asking Protasevich a “stupid question” in Russian and leaving.
Protasevich last year worked as an editor at the Poland-based Nexta Live channel which is based on the Telegram messenger app and has over 1 million subscribers. The channel, which is openly hostile to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, played an important role in broadcasting huge opposition protests against Lukashenko in 2020.
Nexta also helped coordinate those same protests, which were sparked by anger over what the opposition said was a rigged presidential election, something Lukashenko denied. The channel's footage, which showed how harshly police cracked down on demonstrators, was used widely by international media at a time when the Belarusian authorities were reluctant to allow foreign media in.
Protasevich in November published on Twitter a copy of an official Belarusian list of terrorists on which his name figured. The listing said he was accused of organising mass riots while working at Nexta. He also stands accused of disrupting social order and of inciting social hatred. He regards the allegations, which could see him jailed for years, as unjustified political repression.
Protasevich fled Belarus for Poland in 2019 due to pressure from the authorities, according to Media Solidarity, a group that supports Belarusian journalists. He moved his parents to Poland too after they were put under surveillance, he wrote on Twitter. He later relocated to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is also based.
Protasevich is currently editor-in-chief of a Belarusian political outlet hosted on the Telegram messaging app called "Belarus of the Brain" which has around a quarter of a million subscribers.
He was flying back to Vilnius from Greece where he had spent time taking photographs of a visit there by Tsikhanouskaya. He had posted the pictures to social media before flying back.
One passenger on the Ryanair flight that was forced to land told Lithuania’s Delfi news outlet that Protasevich had his head in his hands and was shaking when he realised that his flight had been diverted to Minsk. He reportedly said: ‘I’ll get the death penalty here’ as security forces led him away.
Some nations, as far as foreign policy goes, make a point to refrain from interfering with the internal affairs of other nations. Regardless of what such a nation thinks of the political situation in Belarus, this tradition precludes involvement.
That is no longer the situation here. This is interference in the national sovereignty of both Greece and Lithuania. There's historic precedence here: stopping, searching, and seizing the occupants of vessels transporting between nations has been historically cause for war, or at least strong rebuke by any nation.
Keep an eye out for how NATO addresses this. I take the silence from the US as not a refusal to enter European affairs, but as them taking care to handle this complicated situation appropriately to balance their interests.
Liberals are likely to strongly condemn the jailing of a journalist on ideological grounds, but as far as how this situation plays out I predict this will be a tertiary concern. Of course, this critique may be played up in the media to justify aggressive actions to their liberal audience made for other reasons.
From Secretary of State Blinken:
Seems pretty good for an initial response / statement. Definitely interested in seeing how strongly they follow-through.
Full official statement on state.gov
Belarus and the Hijacking of Ryanair Flight FR4978: A Preliminary International Law Analysis
A bunch more related news:
Poland condemns detention of Belarus opposition activist
Germany demands Belarus explain diversion of Ryanair flight
France discussing suspension of Belarus transport links - Elysee
Lithuania tells citizens to leave Belarus, refrain from travel
Lativian airline airBaltic says is no longer using Belarus airspace for its flights
Ukraine preparing to halt direct flights to Belarus, president's office says
EU air traffic agency helping airlines that want to bypass Belarus
EU's Michel hopes for decision on Belarus sanctions on Monday
More minor updates:
Lufthansa says it will avoid Belarusian air space until further notice
Dutch airline KLM to temporarily halt flights over Belarus - ANP news
All Lithuanian flights to avoid Belarusian airspace, says minister
Lithuania to demand Belarus airspace closed to international flights
Major updates:
EU leaders agree on Belarus sanctions after plane diversion
More updates from today:
Belarus leader claims plane diversion protected passengers, says country is under ‘hybrid attack’
Belarus closing Canadian embassy as PM Trudeau condemns regime
Belarus: end flow of corrupt money via UK, says Estonia president
Germany pulls out of track cycling championships in Belarus
Europe’s aviation regulator urges all airlines to avoid Belarus over safety
IATA calls for review into Belarus plane incident
Statement by the North Atlantic Council on Belarus (from NATO.int)
'They say code is red': transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk
Sofia Sapega, Russian student arrested alongside Belarus activist, appears in 'confession' video
Some more updates from today:
Russia refuses to allow European planes to land in Moscow
Belarus airline scraps flights amid EU freeze-out
An exclusively obtained record shows that the Ryanair ‘Hamas bomb' email—which the Belarus president said prompted the jet landing—was sent after the crew was told of a ‘threat.'
Will update this comment throughout the day so I don't keep bumping this topic. And the reason I'm still posting everything here is so people can simply ignore this topic if they don't want to get keep getting minor updates about this situation.
Grain of salt advised, as this is from his (ex?) colleague:
https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1396446650718117890
If that's true, holy fucking shit, what a stinker.
He's subsequently contradicted this claim in a quote from another party. https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1396498215202140164?s=20
I'm certain we'll be getting facts of what actually occurred shortly, considering everything is recorded.
Counter point: https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1396598294479097862
Apparently, there were operatives on board, though they didn't call in the "bomb threat". Grain of salt still advised.
Looks like there might be some validity to the claim:
Belarus KGB believed to be on plane forced to land in Minsk, says Ryanair CEO
cc: @RNG
edit: better source
Related article from Reuters:
Factbox: Who is the journalist Belarus arrested by forcing a Ryanair plane to land?