Furious Backlash – In what some observers are referring to as “state-sponsored hijacking,” a Belarussian jet forced a Ryanair jetliner flying from Greece to Lithuania on Sunday passenger airliner to land in Minsk so authorities could arrest a journalist on board. The dissident is Raman Pratasevich, a key foe of authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who ran a popular Telegraph messaging app that played a key role in helping organize massive protests against Lukashenko.
The government of Belarus used a transparent ruse to justify the operation. According to Associated Press (AP):
Ryanair said Belarusian flight controllers told the crew there was a bomb threat against the plane as it was crossing through Belarus airspace on Sunday and ordered it to land. A Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet was scrambled to escort the plane in a brazen show of force by Lukashenko, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for over a quarter-century.
Defense One stated that “The air force claimed it had knowledge there was a bomb threat on the plane, which was flying from Greece to Lithuania, in what the Associated Press called ‘a brazen show of force by President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled with an iron fist for over a quarter-century.’”
The apparent target of the forced landing: Raman Pratasevich, who is “a 26-year-old activist and journalist who ran a popular messaging app that played a key role in helping organize massive protests against the authoritarian leader,” AP reports. “He and his Russian girlfriend were led off the plane shortly after landing — and authorities haven’t said where they’re being held.”
According to AP:
Passengers described Pratasevich’s shock when he realized the plane was going to Minsk. “I saw this Belarusian guy with girlfriend sitting right behind us. He freaked out when the pilot said the plane is diverted to Minsk. He said there’s death penalty awaiting him there,” passenger Marius Rutkauskas said after the plane finally arrived in Vilnius. “We sat for an hour after the landing. Then they started releasing passengers and took those two. We did not see them again.”
“State-sponsored hijacking” is what RyanAir CEO Michael O’Leary called the events this weekend, according to the Wall Street Journal. “The incident has sparked an international outcry and raised questions over the legality of the plane’s grounding and the ramifications for the airline industry,” the Journal reports.
Thankfully, in a rare unified, prompt the European Union responded loudly and clearly. On Monday it agreed Monday to impose new sanctions against Belarus, including banning its airlines from using the airspace and airports of the 27-nation bloc.
While this is indeed a horrible act by the Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko. a willing puppet of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, this isn’t the first time a civilian jet has been intercepted by military aircraft and forced down to arrest passengers. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan used U.S. F-14s jet fighters from the carrier Saratoga in the Mediterranean to force an Egyptian airliner to fly to a U.S. naval base in Sicily.
The airliner was carrying four terrorists who had just hijacked an Italian cruise liner and brutally murdered an elderly disabled American tourist, throwing the wheelchair-bound man overboard. The men had negotiated a deal to go to Egypt.
Reagan had vowed that the terrorists would not evade justice. The significant difference in the two incidents – one was conducted by a democracy to bring cold-blooded murderers to justice. In the other, a young, peaceful democracy activist now faces torture or death by a murderous illegitimate regime.
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Two comments, please: First-VERY good job elucidating the differences in this and the Sicily incident, apart from proper discussions of legality or international ethics. It’s a start. Second: I am wondering what incident is going to get the world to declare WWIII. I say “declare” because many signs point to the reality that it IS in progress.
And what can we do to cause the Republicans to grow a “set”, and respond in the manner of the Belarusians? Democrats understand nothing but force – like ALL Communists in history. So what’s wrong with a little force in a good cause? Wouldn’t you love to see Nancy Pelosi dragged out of the Capitol Building in handcuffs, and thrown into a paddy wagon? Justice!!!
That happened on January 6th She was waked out between 2 Military Police. What you are seeing is a clone or body double/Actor playing Pelosi. There was enough evidence on that laptop to put her in Gitmo
I cant believe there are 2 pelosi’s heaven help us
Arrest and imprison the opposition: just like his pal Gospodin Putin. Hmmm. And we thought the Soviet Union was history…
Far from it,when you see how russia has infiltrated our universities to capture the american youth into communism and have now infiltrated our congress and our military we need someone strong like trump to stop the bullshit
Commie is CATHOLIC,.The common thread is the CATHOLICS invented socialism. Robin Hood was their invention. a third of all elected are CATHOLIC “C” traitors and keeping the borders open. Half call themselves r, half d. Since Robin Hood, there has not been even one successful CATHOLIC “C” nation.
They are ILLEGAL ALIEN CATHOLIC “C” INVADERS.
Vote for ANY CATHOLIC “C” and the borders will never be secured.
Vote for ANY CATHOLIC and the disease problem will never be solved. Remember that most childhood diseases were completely eradicated 50 years ago in the USA>
vote for ANY CATHOLIC and you vote for a traitor.
Imagine this occurring in the US. scary
Crespo, you have not listed all relevant facts in regards to this incidents; therefore your article is not objective or truthful
I worked in this field. Bomb threats, real or imagined, made against planes in flight are serious matters. The crews are basically a captive audience, who must make the difficult decision to either land immediately or determine what type of trigger mechanism they’re dealing with–some bombs are set to explode when cabin pressure changes–in order to formulate a course of action. Hijacking is not defined in this manner, so someone’s exaggerating with the title of this article. As long as planes are flying within FIR (Flight Information Region) boundaries, the crews must comply with whatever contingency procedures are directed during these emergencies. In the U.S., we have our own airspace contingency functions that will prompt fighters to intercept airline or other civilian/military planes under certain circumstances.