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Diversion of plane widely condemned

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Date25 May 2021
Published date25 May 2021
Publication titleEvening Chronicle
The dramatic gambit apparently ordered by the country's authoritarian president was denounced as piracy, a hijacking and terrorism.

Ryanair said Belarusian flight controllers told the crew there was a bomb threat against the plane as it was crossing through the country's airspace and ordered it to land in the capital Minsk.

A Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet was scrambled to escort the plane - in a brazen show of force by president Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled with an iron fist for more than a quarter of a century.

The goal was seemingly the arrest of Roman Protasevich, an activist and journalist who ran a popular messaging app that played a key role in helping organise massive protests against the authoritarian leader.

He and his Russian girlfriend were led off the plane shortly after landing. The plane, which began its journey in Athens, Greece, was eventually allowed to continue on to Vilnius, Lithuania.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken called the diversion "shocking", but EU leaders were particularly forceful in their condemnation of the move against the plane, which was flying between two of the bloc's member nations and was being operated by an airline based in Ireland, also a member.

Irish prime minister Micheal Martin told broadcaster RTE the diversion "certainly was a statesponsored coercive act".

"It reflects growing...

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