Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered a Ryanair flight headed for Lithuania and carrying a young opposition blogger to land in Belarus on Sunday and detained him on arrival, prompting Lithuania to call for a NATO response.
Law enforcers detained activist Roman Protasevich, 26, who had been put on a wanted list after last year’s mass street protests following an election in which Mr. Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory.
The aircraft, flying from Athens to Vilnius, had almost reached Lithuania when it changed direction and was escorted to the Belarusian capital of Minsk amid reports that it had explosives on board, according to an online flight tracker and state news agency BelTA.
Mr. Lukashenko personally ordered the warplane to escort the Boeing to Minsk, BelTA reported. No explosives were found, it said.
The European Union said on Sunday that all passengers on board the Ryanair plane must be allowed to resume their journeys immediately. “Any violation of international air transport rules must bear consequences,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
Call for NATO response
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda condemned Belarus’s actions, demanding Protasevich be released and calling on for an international response.
“I call on NATO and EU allies to immediately react to the threat posed to international civil aviation by the Belarus regime. The international community must take immediate steps that this does not repeat,” Mr. Nauseda said.
Lithuanian presidential adviser Asta Skaisgiryte said the operation to force-land the plane carrying around 170 people from 12 countries seemed to be pre-planned.
She said Belarus intelligence services knew who was onboard the plane, which was forced to land with the help of MIG-29 fighter jet. Mr. Protasevich had lived in Vilnius since November, she said.
Lithuania and traditional Russian ally Belarus are neighbours and former members of the Soviet Union. Lithuania is now a member of the EU, Belarus is not.
