O’Leary: Forced Landing in Belarus Was ‘State-Sponsored Hijacking’
24th May 2021
Michael O’Leary says the forced diversion of a Ryanair flight to Belarus was a “state-sponsored hijacking”.
The airline’s CEO says it appears authorities removed a journalist and his travelling companion from the plane, while the company also believes there were some KGB agents on board the flight.
The plane – which was flying from Greece to Lithuania – was escorted by a Belarusian fighter jet after reports it had explosives on board, but none were found.
It was forced to divert from Minsk, where an opposition blogger – Roman Protasevich – was arrested.
European leaders will discuss a response to the incident today, after several officials called it “utterly unacceptable”.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has described it as “aviation piracy that’s state-sponsored”.