Secret police on board 'hijacked' plane forced to land in Belarus, Ryanair boss claims

Michael O’Leary, the boss Of Ryanair, has said he believes there were Belarusian KGB agents on board the flight forced to land in Minsk by a Belarusian military aircraft.

“It is a case of state-sponsored hijacking,” he told NewstalkFM Ireland after Roman Protasevich, an exiled opposition journalist was arrested on the Ryanair plane

"It appears the intent of the authorities was to remove a journalist and his travelling companion," Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary told Ireland's Newstalk radio.

"We believe there were some (Belarusian security agency) KGB agents offloaded at the airport as well."

The United Kingdom and the European Union has called for the immediate release of Mr Protasevich.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said, “The UK condemns yesterday’s actions by the Belarusian authorities, who arrested journalist Roman Protasevich on the basis of a ruse, having forced his flight to land in Minsk. Mr Lukashenko must be held to account for his outlandish actions.

“The UK calls for the immediate release of Mr Protasevich and other political prisoners held in Belarus. The UK is working with our allies on a coordinated response, including further sanctions."

The civilian plane was flying between Athens and Vilnius, two EU capitals, and carried more than 100 passengers before it was forced to land in what Brussels called a “coercive act” and “inadmissible step”. AirBaltic has become the first airline to stop flights over Belarusian airspace.

The Lithuanian foreign ministry claimed that there were four Belarusians and three Russians onboard the plane. Mr Protasevich is Belarusian and his girlfriend, Sophia Sapega, who is reportedly also detained, is Russian, meaning there are two Russian nationals unaccounted for.

Linas Linkevicius, former Lithuanian foreign affairs minister, said six people did not fly back to Vilnius. He suggested the four, excepting the journalist and his partner, could have been part of a secret services operation.

Belarus has insisted it acted legally, and accused the West of "politicising" the situation.

"There is no doubt that the actions of our competent authorities... fully met established international rules," Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said.

"Unfounded accusations are being made," he said in a statement, accusing the West of not wanting to be objective and threatening to slap new sanctions on Belarus.

Sanctions under discussion

EU leaders will discuss possible sanctions against President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime on Monday evening on the first day of a two day summit in Brussels.

The arrest of the founder and editor of Nexta, a social media channel that reported on mass protests that broke out last summer against Mr Lukashenko, is now expected to dominate talks over dinner.

“This is yet another blatant attempt by the Belarusian authorities to silence all opposition voices,” a statement from Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat said.

“We call for the immediate release of Mr Pratasevich,” Mr Borrell said, “An international investigation into this incident must be carried out to ascertain any breach of international aviation rules.”

“The EU will consider the consequences of this action, including taking measures against those responsible,” Mr Borrell said, raising the prospect of the bloc imposing sanctions on Belarus.

Measures could include economic sanctions and targeted sanctions at officials, as well as the banning of Belarus' national airline from EU airports.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said those responsible for the “Ryanair hijacking must be sanctioned”.

“The outrageous and illegal behaviour of the regime in Belarus will have consequences,” she said.

Alexander De Croo, the prime minister of Belgium, said that the European Council needed to give a “clear and unequivocal message”.

“We have to consider sanctions, including banning Belavia [Belarus’ national airline] from landing in EU airports,” he tweeted.

Simon Coveney, Ireland's foreign minister, told the RTE broadcaster he would have "no problem" with closing Belarusian airspace.

He said, "(The EU) needs to make some clear decisions that send a very strong signal to a regime in Belarus that has no democratic legitimacy and is behaving as a dictatorship, repressing their own people, expelling foreign journalists, silencing civil society and human rights defenders."

MEPs from the influential European People's Party (EPP) called on EU leaders to make "bold" decisions at the summit.

They demanded a no-flight zone over Belarus, the swifter adoption of pending sanctions against Minks for last year's rigged election and the release of the imprisoned journalist and his partner.

"This outrageous illegal incident must have strong consequences. No flights to Belarus, no flights from Belarus, no flights over Belarus. This must be the EU’s answer,” said Marian-Jean Marinescu MEP, the EPP group's transport spokesman.

Nato is also meeting Tuesday to discuss the incident. "Allies are consulting on the forcible landing of the Ryanair plane by Belarus and ambassadors will discuss it tomorrow," a Nato official said Monday.

'Kidnapping' condemned

German and French officials and ministers also condemned the incident, which Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said was “air piracy” and “kidnapping”.

Mr Raab will set out further details of the UK's response to Belarus over the arrest of the opposition activist.

The EU was already preparing a fourth round of sanctions against Belarus after the rigged election and crackdown by the regime last year.

Along with the United States, Britain and Canada, the EU has already imposed asset freezes and travel bans on almost 90 officials, including President Alexander Lukashenko.

EU sanctions require the unanimous support of the bloc’s 27 member states.

Monday’s summit dinner is expected to be too soon for the measures to be prepared for approval but leaders are expected to strongly condemn the arrest and call for Mr Pratasevich’s release.

Nato ambassadors are to discuss the forced landing on Tuesday.

Russia on Monday said it was shocked by the Western outcry over Belarus's diversion of a passenger plane carrying an opposition activist.

"We are shocked that the West calls the incident in Belarusian air space 'shocking,'" Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Facebook, accusing Western nations of "kidnappings, forced landings and illegal arrests".

Journalist in exile

Roman Protasevich was born in 1995 in Minsk into a military family. He became involved in opposition politics as a teenager, and was kicked out of high school after being arrested at a protest in 2011.

He briefly studied journalism and worked for several outlets, including Euro Radio and Radio Free Europe before joining Nexta, a channel on the Telegraph messaging app.

Nexta, a play on the Belarusian word for "someone" because its updates are anonymous, won a reputation for speed, accuracy and independence, but drew the wrath of Alexander Lukashenko's government.

In late 2019 he fled to Poland after a colleague was arrested. He was charged with several criminal cases in absentia.

He was in charge of the day-to-day running of the Telegram channel when protests erupted against Lukashenko's regime following disputed elections in August 2020, and left Nexta in September that year.

In November 2020 Mr Protasevich and Stepan Putilo, his Nexta co-founder, were charged with terrorism and placed on the same register as suspected members of the Islamic State group.

On May 6 this year, Mr Lukashenko issued a decree stripping Mr Protasevich's father, who served 29 years in the country's armed forces, of his rank as a lieutenant colonel in the reserves.

Mr Protasevich and his girlfriend, a 23 year old Russian citizen currently studying in Lithuania, were arrested in Minsk after their flight from Athens to Vilnius was intercepted over Belarus on May 23.