EU countries have increased sanctions against Belarus following the forced landing of a plane last weekend.
Over the last 48 hours, the situation has developed rapidly.
As such, here’s everything you need to know about the incident.
Belarusian authorities forced a Ryanair flight from Athens (Greece) to Vilnius (Lithuania) to land in Minsk on Sunday, saying they acted in response to a false bomb threat. They say the threat was written in the name of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
However, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters that he denied his group had any knowledge or connection to the matter.
Belarussian authorities added that its ground controllers had given guidance to the flight but had not ordered it to land. According to their state media, the intervention was ordered personally by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.
After landing in Minsk, journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were detained and taken off the flight.
In addition, four Russian passport holders also got off the flight in Minsk. UCD professor of international relations Ben Tonra discussed the influence Russia may have had on Sunday’s events.
“Who were those individuals [who got off]? Who were they working for? How much prior knowledge did Russia have of this event? How much coordination was there between Russia and Belarus in this event?” he said on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland today.
“I mean Lukashenko and Putin are very, very close. Lukashenko is a dictator who relies on the support of Russia for the survival of his regime. And so looking at Russia’s role in this is going to be very, very important.”
Lukashenko has been in control of Belarus since 1994, with the dissolution of the USSR. In August of last year, he was re-elected for his sixth term, however there were international accusations that the election was not fair and free.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya emerged as the main opposition leader in the ensuing unrest, as major protests broke out across Belarus against the Lukashenko regime. Speaking to Independent.ie, Ms Tsikhanouskaya said she feared the journalist detained on Sunday is being tortured by Belarusian authorities.
The 26 year-old blogger from Belarus was detained last weekend, and was a known opponent of Lukashenko’s presidency. He ran a channel called NEXTA in opposition of state-run media.
In a video posted online yesterday, he said he was in good health, being held in a pretrial detention facility in Minsk, and acknowledged having played a role in organising mass disturbances in the capital last year.
The video, which was posted on the Telegram messaging app, was immediately dismissed by his allies - including his father. They say his comments were made under duress.
Ms Tsikhanouskaya said she has received reports that the journalist may be in hospital suffering from heart problems.
“We know how people are treated in Belarusian jails, so we really believe and know that his health and life are in danger,” she said.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary described the incident yesterday as a “state sponsored hijacking”, adding that he couldn’t say too much about the situation as the EU and Nato are dealing with it.
“I think it was very frightening for the crews, for the passengers, who were held under armed guard and had their bags searched,” he told Newstalk Breakfast. “I think we, like all the European airlines, are looking for guidance today from the European authorities and from NATO.
“It was clear that the intent of the Russian authorities was to remove a journalist and his travelling companion. And we believe there was also some KGB agents offloading off the aircraft as well.”
Belarus’ decision to force land the Ryanair flight was strongly condemned by many European politicians, with Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney describing it as “aviation piracy”.
The EU has decided to place sanctions against the country, as Belarusian airlines are to be banned from flying in EU airspace. Similarly, EU airlines are also to be asked to avoid flying in Belarus airspace.
Finland's flag carrier Finnair said this morning that they would stop flights over Belarus, with a spokeswoman telling Reuters: “This affects very few flights. The last flight [in the airspace] was on Sunday and the next one will be on Wednesday.”
Mr O’Leary similarly said: “we don’t fly over Belarussia much. I think it would be a very minor adjustment to fly over Poland on the routes, but we will take our lead from the European security and safety agencies.”
