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A question of ‘air piracy’ and strident rhetoric
4 hours ago Airport personnel and security forces are seen on the tarmac in front of a Ryanair flight which was forced to land in Minsk, Belarus, on May 23, 2021. File/Reuters
Leonid Bershidsky,
Tribune News Service
The double standards defence is the Kremlin’s go-to device whenever it’s accused of wrongdoing: “You Westerners have no moral right to point fingers because you do it too.” It’s telling that Russia has unfolded the double standards umbrella over Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who on May 23 scrambled a fighter jet to land a Ryanair Holdings Plc plane in Minsk so he could get his hands on one of the passengers, opposition activist Raman Pratasevich. The list of “precedents” Russia is helpfully citing is an indication that flying over Russian airspace, too, can be extremely risky for opponents of President Vladimir Putin, even if the “precedents” themselves don’t hold wa
(Bloomberg Opinion) The double standards defense is the Kremlin’s go-to device whenever it’s accused of wrongdoing: “You Westerners have no moral right to point fingers because you do it too.
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.
HEADLINES & GLOBAL NEWS
By
May 25, 2021 01:10 AM EDT
(Photo : Omar Marques/Getty Images) After the Belarus hijack of Ryanair to bring the dissident journalist Roman Protasevich to Minsk, the international community was concerned about his welfare.
A video was released a day after an airline carrying activist Roman Protasevich on board was forced down with a fake bomb threat that eventually led to his arrest by Belarusian authorities on Sunday in Minsk s capital city, reported CNN via MSN.
The video was proof that Protasevich is alive after doubts over his safety caused a furor following suspicions the plane was brought down on orders of Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko. Many world leaders criticized the Belarus leader for the plot to capture one of his dissenters.