UK planes told to avoid Belarus airspace as more sanctions mooted after ‘hijack’

The Ryanair plane with registration number SP-RSM, carrying opposition figure Raman Pratasevich which was traveling from Athens to Vilnius and was diverted to Minsk after a bomb threat, lands at the International Airport outside Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, May 23, 2021. The presidential press service said President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered that a MiG-29 fighter jet accompany the Ryanair plane carrying opposition figure Raman Pratasevich and traveling from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania to the airport in the capital Minsk. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

UK aircraft have been instructed to avoid Belarusian airspace following the “state-sponsored hijack” of a Ryanair flight to enable the arrest of a prominent critic of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said further sanctions were being considered against the Lukashenko administration and Belarus’ ambassador in London had been summoned for a dressing down.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he had instructed the British Civil Aviation Authority to request airlines avoid Belarusian airspace “in order to keep passengers safe”.

He also suspended the operating permit for Belavia, the country’s state-owned airline.

Mr Protasevich was on board the flight from Athens to Vilnius when it was forced to change course to head for Minsk after a bomb scare, escorted by a MiG fighter jet.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said it was a “state-sponsored hijacking” and claimed agents from Russia’s KGB were also on board the flight.

“I think it’s very frightening for the crew, for the passengers who were held under armed guard, had their bags searched,” he told Newstalk.

“It was clear it appears that the intent of the Russian authorities was to remove a journalist and his traveling companion.

“We believe there was also some KGB agents offloaded from the aircraft as well.”