Belarus Sparks Controversy by Forcing Foreign-Registered Passenger Plane to Land (Comprehensive)

Fighter Jets Deployed to Arrest Opposition Activist
International Community Strongly Condemns as "Kidnapping"

At Minsk Airport, the capital of Belarus, on the 23rd (local time), airport staff conducted a search of the cargo of a Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS passenger plane with a sniffer dog.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] Belarus forced a foreign-registered passenger plane to land by deploying fighter jets in order to arrest an opposition activist. The international community is strongly condemning this as an act of state kidnapping, and the controversy continues to escalate.

According to foreign media on the 23rd (local time), Belarusian authorities reported that they received a bomb threat on board a Ryanair aircraft of Irish nationality flying over their airspace, and forced the plane to make an emergency landing at the capital Minsk airport. The passenger plane was en route from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania.

Flight path of Ryanair aircraft that changed its route to Minsk, Belarus while heading to Vilnius, Lithuania [Image source=FlightRadar24]

The aircraft, carrying about 170 people including Belarusian opposition figure Raman Pratasevich, changed its course to Minsk just before entering Lithuanian airspace. According to local Belarusian media, the authorities even dispatched MiG-29 fighter jets to enforce the forced landing of the plane. After landing at Minsk airport, the plane was held for over seven hours, during which the authorities arrested Pratasevich on board, the New York Times (NYT) reported. Both Ryanair and Belarusian security authorities stated that no explosives were found on the plane.

Raman Pratasevich [Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

Criticism has arisen that Belarus forced the plane to land in order to arrest Pratasevich. Pratasevich is the former editor-in-chief of NEXTA, an opposition media outlet in Belarus operating via Telegram. After large-scale anti-government protests last year, the government forcibly shut down numerous media outlets to suppress opposition forces, leaving NEXTA as virtually the only opposition media platform and the most influential channel for opposition communication.

Last year, Belarusian authorities listed Pratasevich as a ‘terrorist participant’ for allegedly leading the protests, and designated NEXTA as an extremist organization. As a result, Pratasevich fled to Lithuania seeking asylum from government persecution.

The international community is reacting strongly against Belarus’s actions. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted on the day, "I strongly condemn the shocking actions of the Belarusian regime" and called for an international investigation. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, criticized the incident as "absolutely unacceptable." The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned Belarus, calling it an act of state kidnapping.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, where Pratasevich resides, condemned the incident as an "act of state terrorism" and requested that immediate sanctions against Belarus be discussed at the EU member states’ summit scheduled for the 24th.

The NYT evaluated the incident as "a stark demonstration of how far Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is willing to go to suppress his opponents," and "showing that even the airspace of neighboring countries, once considered safe for opposition activists, is under Lukashenko’s influence."

Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus [Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, President Lukashenko, also known as Europe’s last dictator, has tightened his grip on opposition forces since the anti-government protests began last year. After the August presidential election last year, in which Lukashenko, who has ruled for nearly 30 years, claimed a landslide victory with over 80% of the vote, allegations of election fraud arose, leading to months of opposition protests.

Since the protests began, more than 32,000 citizens have been arrested, and at least four deaths have been reported.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.