Taoiseach brands Belarus bomb threat comments on Ryanair flight as 'nonsense'
The Belarussian grounding of a Ryanair flight amounts to "aviation piracy", the Foreign Affairs Minister has said.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has described comments by the Government of Belarus as “nonsense”.
Belarus state media said Mr Lukashenko personally ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the flight he was on to Minsk after a bomb threat was received while it was over Belarus territory.
Officials later said no explosives had been found on board while the deputy air force commander said the plane’s crew made the decision to land in the Belarus capital.
“We all know what happened here. Don’t be hiding behind excuses,” he told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.
Mr Martin said that the Belarusian authorities had forced down a flight to remove an individual with a differing view. That was contrary to decency and democratic values.
The Taoiseach said he was worried about the growing authoritarianism in the world.
"It was not acceptable. Democratic countries had to stand up."
When asked about a suggestion by Ryanair CEO that there had been KGB agents on the flight, Mr Martin said that five people did not get back on the plane which had led to speculation that they could have been security personnel.
He said the forcing down of the plane had been a "State-sponsored" coercive act, it was absolutely unacceptable.
Mr Martin said he was meeting with Ministers from Lithuania and Greece to discuss a coordinated EU response. There already were sanctions against Belarus and a strong response from the EU was now required.
International rules have to apply, he said.
“This was piracy in the skies.”
The Belarussian grounding of a Ryanair flight amounts to "aviation piracy", the Foreign Affairs Minister has said.
Simon Coveney said the incident yesterday, which saw a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius grounded over a supposed security concern, was a "state-sponsored hijacking".
Belarussian opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich was on board the flight when it was forced to land in the Belarussian capital of Minsk yesterday. Mr Paratasevich was arrested when the plane landed and a number of other passengers did not reboard the plane.
He could face 15 years in jail if convicted of several charges by authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko's regime.
Mr Coveney said that the Belarussian regime "has no democratic legitimacy" and called on the EU to show a "clear and tough response".
He told RTE radio he "would like to speak to" the Belarussian honorary consul in Dublin, but stopped short of advocating the banishment of all diplomats across the EU.
There has to be "a real edge" to any sanctions imposed and the EU must go beyond "strong press releases", he added.
Ryanair group chief executive Michael O'Leary also described the incident as "state-sponsored hijacking".
Speaking to Newstalk, Mr O'Leary said: "It appears the intent of the authorities was to remove a journalist and his travelling companion.
"We believe there were some KGB agents offloaded at the airport as well."
Passenger Marius Rutkauskas said after the plane arrived in Vilnius following several hours in the Belarusian capital: "I saw this Belarusian guy with his girlfriend sitting right behind us.
"He freaked out when the pilot said the plane is diverted to Minsk. He said there's a death penalty awaiting him there.
"We sat for an hour after the landing. Then they started releasing passengers and took those two. We did not see them again."
Flight tracker sites indicated the plane was about six miles from the Lithuanian border when it was diverted. There are conflicting accounts of the move.
The press service of Mr Lukashenko said the president himself ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to accompany the airliner after he was informed of the bomb threat.
Deputy air force commander Andrei Gurtsevich said the plane's crew made the decision to land in Minsk.
Ryanair said in a statement that Belarusian air traffic control had instructed the plane to divert to the capital.
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda called the incident a "state-sponsored terror act".
Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has called on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to begin an investigation.
"It is absolutely obvious that this is an operation by the special services to hijack an aircraft in order to detain activist and blogger Raman Pratasevich," she said in a statement.
"Not a single person who flies over Belarus can be sure of his safety."
The ICAO later said it "is strongly concerned by the apparent forced landing".
Belarusian authorities said there were 123 passengers on the plane. But Mr Landsbergis, the Lithuanian foreign minister, said there were 171.
Western countries also expressed alarm.
US ambassador Julie Fisher said Belarus "showed again its contempt for international community and its citizens", and called the incident "dangerous and abhorrent".
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen tweeted: "It is utterly unacceptable to force @Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius to land in Minsk."
German foreign minister Heiko Maas said "such an act cannot be left without definite consequences from the side of the European Union" and called for Mr Pratasevich to be released.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken called the incident "shocking" and accused Mr Lukashenka's government of endangering the lives of those aboard the aircraft, some of them Americans.
He called for the release of Mr Pratasevich and for the Council of the ICAO to review the incident.
Mr Blinken said: "Independent media are an essential pillar supporting the rule of law and a vital component of a democratic society. The United States once again condemns the Lukashenka regime's ongoing harassment and arbitrary detention of journalists."
Months of protests erupted in Belarus after last August's presidential election, in which Mr Lukashenko won a sixth term in office.
Police cracked down on the demonstrations, detaining around 30,000 people and beating many of them.
Although protests died down during the winter, Belarus has continued to take actions against the opposition and independent news media.
Last week, 11 staff members of the TUT.by news website were detained by police.
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