The head of the Irish company Ryanair,
Michael O Leary, commented on the hijacking of his company aircraft by the Belarusian authorities. In contrast to the previous statement of the company, which did not refer to the military aircraft, launched by Lukashenka, the comment of the Ryanair CEO was more radical:
- The decision of the Belarusian authorities to force a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk on Sunday and detain a journalist was a state-sponsored hijacking. This was a case of state-sponsored hijacking… state-sponsored piracy. 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 .
There s international condemnation after belarus diverts a ryanair passenger plane and detains a journalist on board. ryanair calls it state sponsored hijacking . the journalist roman protasevich is an outspoken critic of the belarussian president. he was taken away by the security services. fellow passengers say he looked terrified. super scared. i looked at him directly into his eyes and it was very sad. here, the government has ordered flights to avoid belarussian airspace and has suspended flights by the national airline. the eu is meeting to consider its response. also tonight: max mosley, the former formula one boss who took the news of the world to court and won has died aged 81.