It was reported that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered the Ryanair plane, which took off from Athens on Sunday morning for Vilnius, Lithuania, to make an emergency landing in the capital, Minsk.
Two fighter planes were sent to follow the passenger plane.
On board was Roman Protasevi, 26, the former head of the opposition channel Nexta on Telegram, who, like other prominent opposition figures, is living in exile. Then he was arrested at the airport.
‘Absolutely unacceptable’
Secretary of State Anne Lind quickly responded to the information in one of the posts On Twitter“What happened is very disturbing and outrageous,” he says in a written comment to SVT Nyheter.
– The Belarusian measure is totally unacceptable, and it has exposed all passengers on board the plane to major safety risks, she said.
Of course, we also demand the immediate release of Roman Protasevi. The arrest is another example of the regime’s attempts to silence freedom of expression. Sweden will continue its strong support for independent media and freedom of expression.
Opposition leader Svetlana Tychhanovskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, told Reuters in a statement carried by Reuters:
He added, “It is quite clear that this is an operation carried out by the intelligence services to reach the plane and imprison the activist and blogger Roman Protasevic.”
We will discuss the consequences
According to Foreign Minister Anne Linde, the Swedish embassy in Minsk is now working to obtain more information about what happened. The embassy will not receive information that there are Swedish citizens on board.
On Monday, the European Council will meet. Ann Lind also stated that she will “discuss the potential consequences” with her European Union colleagues.
The European Union’s foreign minister, Josep Borrell, demanded that all passengers and aircraft be allowed to leave Belarus.
“We hold the Belarusian government responsible for the safety of all passengers and aircraft. All passengers should be able to continue their journey immediately,” he wrote on Twitter, according to Reuters.
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