UPDATED: EU calls for international inquiry into forced landing of Ryanair plane
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The European Union has called for an international investigation into the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk.
“In carrying out this coercive act, the Belarusian authorities have jeopardised the safety of passengers and crew,” the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement on Monday, as EU leaders are set to discuss additional sanctions against Belarus at a summit starting in Brussels later in the day.
“An international investigation into this incident must be carried out to ascertain any breach of international aviation rules.
In a separate development, the chairman of the British parliament’s foreign affairs committee called on Monday for all civilian airlines to cease flying over Belarus after what he said was an act of air piracy by President Alexander Lukashenko.
Belarus scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane bound for Vilnius, Lithuania, to land in Minsk on Sunday.
It detained an opposition-minded journalist who was on board, drawing condemnation from Europe and the United States.
“We need to stop any aircraft overflying Belarus,” Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Tugendhat told Times Radio.
“This is an act of air-piracy, combined with hijacking, and eventually linked to kidnapping.”
Tugendhat said fresh sanctions should to be imposed. “The next thing we need to do is we need to put very strict sanctions on the Lukashenko regime,” he said.
