Contents tagged with Protasevich

  • NATO Secretary General does not rule out Russia's involvement in forced landing of Ryanair plane in Minsk

    NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with the British radio station Times Radio that there were indirect signs that Russia may have been involved in the emergency landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk. According to Stoltenberg, Russia's cooperation with Belarus is one such sign.

    Stoltenberg said that he cannot divulge the details of the intelligence data regarding the incident, but the landing of the plane was not only a violation of airspace rules but also an "attack …

  • Kyiv warns Lukashenko against allowing LPR to interrogate Protasevich

    Alexander Lukashenko will face a tough response from Ukraine if representatives of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic are allowed to interrogate the Belarusian opposition journalist, Roman Protasevich, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

    "It will hurt Alexander Lukashenko. We have enough tools to make it painful for people and countries that do not respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine," the Minister said on air of the TV program "Breakfast with 1.1."

    He reminded that …

  • Ukraine calls on Belarus to release Roman Protasevich

    The Ukrainian Parliament adopted a statement regarding the incident with the forced landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk, which occurred on May 23.

    In the statement, the Ukrainian parliament strongly condemns the actions of the Belarusian authorities to divert the Ryanair flight and the arrest OF the Belarusian opposition journalist, Roman Protasevich.

    The Parliament called for the immediate release of Roman Protasevich and all political prisoners, an end to the torture used by the …

  • U.S. and Poland launch investigations into Ryanair incident

    The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Poland have launched their own investigations into the emergency landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk, which lead to an arrest of a well-known Belarusian oppositionist Roman Protasevich, said the head of the Criminal Police of Lithuania Rolandas Kiškis at a press conference in Vilnius.

    "Along with the investigation launched in the Polish Republic, we have information from our colleagues from the United States that the FBI has launched its own …

  • Ukraine bans flights to and from Belarus

    The Ukrainian government approved a decision during an extraordinary meeting to ban the use of Ukrainian airspace by aircraft registered in Belarus, reported the press service of the Ukrainian government.

    The ban will come into effect on May 29, 12:00 am Kyiv time . According to the statement, this decision was made after the incident with the Ryanair fight, which occurred on May 23.

    "In order to ensure the safety of flights and passengers, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the State Aviation …

  • Merkel wants to question Putin about Russia's role in hijacking Ryanair plane over Belarus

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes that Russia's role in the story of the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk and the subsequent arrest of opposition blogger Roman Protasevich remains unclear. "It is well known that there are close relations between Belarus and Russia," she said at a press conference following the EU summit on Tuesday, May 25. As an example, confirming Moscow's possible involvement, Merkel mentioned the fact that some passengers of the plane did not fly to Vilnius …

  • Lukashenko threatens the West with Third World War

    Foreign detractors are waging a hybrid war against Belarus, treating it as a testing ground before their "attack on the East", said self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, speaking in the Belarusian parliament.

    According to him, the real goal of "Western strategists" is Russia, against which "one well-known extremist channel, which was born from Belarusian problems, is already actively working."

    "We are on the front line of not just a cold but already an icy war," …

  • EU expands sanctions against Belarus

    EU countries have decided to expand economic sanctions against Belarus, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a two-day summit in Brussels.

    The forced landing of a Ryanair flight to detain the founder and former chief executive of the opposition Telegram channel Nexta, Roman Protasevich, which the official Minsk initially attributed to Alexander Lukashenko's personal order and then tried to blame the alleged bomb threat from the Palestinian Hamas movement, is an "unacceptable violation of …

  • UK, France and Ukraine suspend all flights to and from Belarus

    The national airline of Belarus, Belavia, announced that flights to London and Paris were discontinued from 25 May to 30 October 2021. According to Belavia’s press service, this is due to "the decision of the Governments of Great Britain and France to ban Belavia flights to and from the UK and France".

    "We are saddened by the current situation, which cannot be changed. We apologise to passengers," Belavia’s statement reads. Those who bought tickets for flights in these directions will be given …