The Secretary-General of the European Foreign Service summoned the Belarusian ambassador in connection with the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger plane.
This is reported by “EUR News” with reference to the EU statement.
“At the request of High Representative Josep Borrel, the Secretary-General of the European External Action Service, Stefano Sannino, summoned the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to the European Union, Alexander Mikhnevich, to condemn the unacceptable step of the Belarusian authorities, which forced a civilian plane to make an emergency landing in Minsk and detained passenger Roman Protasevich, an independent Belarusian journalist and activist,” the statement said.
Mikhnevich was told that the EU institutions and member states condemned this act of coercion, which the Belarusian authorities put at risk the safety of passengers and crew.
The Secretary-General expressed the EU’s position that the outrageous actions of the Belarusian authorities are another blatant attempt to stifle all the voices of the opposition in the country and demanded the immediate release of Protasevich.
“Yesterday’s unacceptable act will be raised at a meeting of the European Council. The EU will consider the consequences of these actions, including possible measures against those responsible, ” the statement said.
As reported, on Sunday, Belarus raised fighter jets to land a Ryanair plane in Minsk, on which the opposition leader, former editor of the NEXTA telegram channel Roman Protasevich, was detained.
This event caused a sharp reaction in the world. The EU has warned Belarus about the consequences. Poland and Lithuania called the forced landing of the Athens — Vilnius plane in Minsk an act of state terrorism.
The heads of the Foreign Affairs committees of the US Senate and the parliaments of several European countries called for a temporary ban on international flights over Belarus after the incident.
