The former CEO of Nexta came to a briefing on the emergency landing of a passenger liner in Minsk. On it, the Belarusian authorities stated that “there was no interception and forced u-turn from the state border”
Roman Protasevich (left)
The former editor-in-chief of the Telegram channel Nexta Roman Protasevich became one of the participants of the press conference on the situation with the emergency landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk, the correspondent of RBC reports.
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The press conference is held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, which is attended by representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Transport, the Border Service and the Investigative Committee of the republic.
At a briefing, the Belarusian aviation authorities said that they had prepared a map with a minute-by-minute chronology of the flight of the passenger liner. Artyom Sikorsky, head of the Aviation Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said that the Belarusian side had not received objective control data on the incident with the plane from Poland and Ireland. According to Air Force Commander Igor Golub, ” there was no interception, forced U-turn from the state border and forced landing of the Ryanair plane.”
The plane of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, which was flying from Athens to Vilnius, was forced to land in Minsk on May 23 due to reports of explosives on board. At the time of receiving this information, he was already close to the Lithuanian border, however, as the Belarusian authorities said, in accordance with international aviation security requirements, the crewI decided to land the airliner at the nearest airport. To accompany the flight, the Belarusian authorities raised a military fighter. As a result, the information about the bomb was not confirmed, and the plane continued on its way, but without two passengers-Protasevich and his girlfriend, a Russian citizen, Sofia Sapega. They were detained at the Minsk airport, and both were arrested.
The actions of the Belarusian authorities were sharply condemned by the leaders of European countries and the United States. On June 4, the European Union banned all Belarusian air carriers from using their airspace. The EU also recommended that European airlines avoid flying over Belarus.
On June 10, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which it demanded to increase the sanctions pressure on Minsk. Among other things, the parliamentarians proposed to apply sanctions against the oil industry, steel, potash and woodworking industries, to stop financing Belarusian state-owned banks and to consider suspending Belarus ‘ participation in the SWIFT system.
A criminal case has been opened against Protasevich in Belarus on organizing mass riots, and he is also listed as a terrorist. On the evening of June 3, the state channel ONT published an interview with the ex-editor-in-chief of Nexta, in which he admitted guilt in organizing mass actions, spoke about the conflict with the team of the Telegram channel and criticized the opposition and its leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Nexta founder Stepan Putilo said that these words were the result of “unbearable torture”. Protasevich’s parents are also convinced that their son was forced to make a confession.