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A passenger plane flying from Athens to Lithuania was diverted to Belarus on Sunday, with reports suggesting secret foreign agents in the Greek capital took part in a plot described as a “state hijacking” by Minsk to arrest a political dissident on board.
(Click here for an update to the story)
Passenger Roman Protasevich - a journalist, blogger, and an activist - was taken into custody on Sunday after his flight was diverted to Belarus just miles before entering Lithuanian airspace and forced to land on an airfield in Minsk.
According to Kathimerini, Protasevich, a 25-year-old tech savvy who ran an opposition social media Telegram channel called Nexta, appears to have used his app at Athens International Airport, alerting colleagues that he was approached by a Russian-speaking person who took photos of him.
'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'
Protasevich was visiting Athens where he attended the Delphi Economic Forum a week ago.
Reports said the Lithuania-bound plane was escorted to Minsk by a MiG-29 fighter jet, but the full circumstances of the entire incident were not immediately clear.
Ryanair says that its crew was "notified by Belarus ATC of a potential security threat on board and were instructed to divert to the nearest airport, Minsk."
But Belarusian authorities say Ryanair told them of a "possible bomb on board," with the country’s air force saying it was the pilot who "made a decision to land at the reserve airfield.”
Reports said Protasevich was visibly upset when the pilot announced they were diverting the plane to land in 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 arrived in Vilnius following several hours in the Belarusian capital.
The plane later departed with six fewer passengers, including Protasevich and his girlfriend, according to foreign media that also reported four others described as Russian nationals were believed also to have disembarked the plane.
Lithuanian presidential advisor Asta Skaisgiryte said the operation to force-land the plane carrying 171 people from 12 countries seemed to be “pre-planned” and went on to claim that Belarus intelligence services knew who was onboard the plane when it took off in Athens.
Cyprus cried foul over incident
A tweet from the Cypriot foreign ministry said the island was closely monitoring the situation, calling it “totally unacceptable,” with reports suggesting a Cypriot traveler was also on board the plane.
“We call on Belarus authorities to ensure immediate & safe release of all passengers. In touch also with Greece & Lithuania authorities to ensure well-being of CY passenger," the tweet said on Sunday. A second tweet on Monday morning also called for the immediate release of Protasevich.
Western countries also expressed alarm, while Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the incident as a “shocking act.”
“The forced landing of a commercial plane to detain a journalist is an unprecedented, shocking act. We demand all passengers’ immediate release,” Mitsotakis said, calling on Monday’s European Council to address the need to step up pressure on Belarus.
“Enough is enough,” the Greek premier wrote.
Last year, Greece and the Republic of Cyprus agreed with other EU members to impose sanctions on dozens of senior officials in Belarus, who were accused of falsifying presidential election results and leading a crackdown on protesters.
Athens and Nicosia initially blocked the sanctions unless similar actions were taken against Turkey, but in the end eU leaders agreed on a strong statement of support for Greece and Cyprus as well as a stern warning to Ankara.
Months of protests erupted in Belarus after the last presidential election in August when the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko got to serve a sixth term in office.
Lukashenko’s office says the president himself had ordered the fighter jet to escort the plane citing fears over a bomb threat, while EU leaders have called for an investigation into what exactly had taken place.
Greece’s foreign ministry denounced the diversion and called it “state hijacking.”
“We condemn the illegal arrest of the Belarusian activist Roman Protasevich, who is threatened with the death penalty,” Athens said.
