OUTRAGEOUS!!

This isn’t supposed to happen… This violates so many laws, norms, customs and procedures that it should be impossible but it shows the illicit power of Russian Vladimir Putin and Belarussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and the weakness of The United Nations, America and especially of America’s president Joseph Robinette Biden.

26-year-old Roman Protasevich was traveling on (Irish) Ryanair flight 4978 from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania on Sunday. While flying through Belarussian airspace  the plane was illegally ordered by Belarusian air traffic control to the Belarussian capital Minsk. A Belarussian military jet threatened to shoot down the Ryanair flight until it landed in Belarus. All to capture a 26 year old…

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary accused Belarus of “state-sponsored piracy,” telling Ireland’s Newstalk radio Monday that he believed Belarusian KGB agents were also on the flight that was carrying 26-year-old Protasevich, who is wanted in Belarus on a variety of charges. Protasevich was arrested Sunday when the flight was forced to land in Minsk  described by some Western leaders as “state-sanctioned hijacking.”

Similarly, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that(KGB) secret service agents may have been on the plane, telling national broadcaster RTÉ that the agents were “clearly linked to the Belarusian regime.”

“When the plane landed, either five or six people didn’t reboard the plane before it took off again, but only one or two people were actually arrested, so that certainly would suggest that a number of the other people who left the plane were secret service,” he added.

Belarus borders three European Union member states — Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland — and EU leaders were discussing further action against Lukashenko’s government on Monday, with global leaders calling on airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace, their citizens to leave the country and for the opposition activist’s release.

The kidnapping has been condemned by world leaders. “Those responsible for the #Ryanair hijacking must be sanctioned,” tweeted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shortly after the news emerged. France’s Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari tweeted that “hijacking a plane is unacceptable.”

Von der Leyen on Monday said that the bloc would close its airspace to planes from Belarus in response to the incident, and warned of more sanctions to come.

“#EUCO leaders acted forcefully in response to the outrageous actions of the Belarus regime. We are closing our airspace to planes from Belarus & call on EU airlines not to fly over the country. Further economic sanctions will be presented soon,” she tweeted.

She has also said that a $3.6 billion (3 billion Euro) investment aid package from the EU to Belarus will be “on hold and frozen until Belarus turns democratic.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the incident Sunday and demanded the release of Protasevich. “This shocking act perpetrated by the Lukashenka regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers, including U.S. citizens,” Blinken said in a statement. “Initial reports suggesting the involvement of the Belarusian security services and the use of Belarusian military aircraft to escort the plane are deeply concerning and require full investigation.”

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply concerned” over the incident and has called for a “full and transparent investigation,” urging all parties to cooperate. “The Secretary-General also remains greatly concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus in the aftermath of last August’s presidential elections,” he added.

WHY ARE THESE TWO DICTATORS ALLOWED TO RETAIN POWER??

EU leaders agreed to impose more sanctions on Belarus but analysts believe any new restrictions on Lukashenko, or other individuals or entities involved in the incident, are likely to be ineffective.

Nigel Gould-Davies is former U.K. ambassador to Belarus and a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the IISS told CNBC on Monday that the Ryanair incident showed that “Lukashenko is now an international threat, and not just a threat to his own people.”

“Secondly, it shows how insecure he feels himself to be if he goes to such trouble to detain a single journalist and risk international outrage and condemnation in violating international rules in this most flagrant way,” he added.

This is not just a defensive action from Lukashenko but a full frontal attack on the EU – an EU plane, travelling between two EU capitals, forced out of the air by a autocratic regime. If the West lets Lukashenko get away with this, no Western airline is safe, flying across any autocratic run country. The skies and dissidents are not safe.

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