Skyjacking could bring down pariah state
The extraordinary forced landing of a commercial flight with a Belarusian dissident aboard escalated into one of the biggest flare-ups in East-West tensions in recent years.
Antonâ âTroianovskiâ
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The tray tables were being raised and the seat backs returned to their upright positions as passengers on Ryanair Flight 4978 prepared for the scheduled landing in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. Then the plane made an abrupt U-turn.
For many passengers, it initially seemed like one of those unexpected delays in airline travel. But after the pilot announced the plane had been diverted to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, one passenger â Roman Protasevich, a prominent Belarusian opposition journalist who had been living in exile since 2019 â grew terrified, certain that he faced arrest.
Anton Troianovski, The New York Times
Published: 25 May 2021 12:01 PM BdST
Updated: 25 May 2021 12:38 PM BdST People hold paper planes during a protest against the detention of Belarusian blogger, Roman Protasevich, who was detained as a Ryanair plane that he was on, en route from Athens to Vilnius, was forced to land in Minsk on Sunday, in Warsaw, Poland, May 24, 2021. Dawid Zuchowicz/Agencja Gazeta/via REUTERS
The tray tables were being raised and the seat backs returned to their upright positions as passengers on Ryanair Flight 4978 prepared for the scheduled landing in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. Then the plane made an abrupt U-turn.
Belarus Is Isolated as Other Countries Move to Ban Flights nytimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nytimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.