On Monday, May 24, during the EU summit, the European Council officially banned overflight of the EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and called on European airlines to avoid overflight of Belarus, the press-service of the European Council reports.
“The European Council strongly condemns the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk, Belarus, on 23 May 2021 endangering aviation safety, and the detention by Belarusian authorities of journalist Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega,” the message reads.
With this, the European Council demanded the immediate release of Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega and called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to urgently investigate the unprecedented and unacceptable incident.
In response to the incident, the Council called on all EU-based carriers to avoid overflight of Belarus and called-on to adopt the necessary measures to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and prevent access to EU airports of flights operated by such airlines.
Additionally, it was recommended by the European Council to adopt further targeted economic sanctions, inviting the High Representative and the Commission to submit proposals without delay to this end.
It was noted that the European Union stands in solidarity with Latvia following the unjustified expulsion of Latvian diplomats and will remain seized of the matter.
Following the incident, the European Union decided to freeze a three-billion-euro investment package for Belarus until the country turns democratic, as was said by Ursula von der Leyen, the chief of the European Union's executive on Monday.
"We will put pressure on the regime until it finally respects the freedom of media, the freedom of press and the freedom of opinion," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said before a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels who will consider imposing further sanctions against Belarus.
The new measures may target individuals involved in the forced landing of a Ryanair plane, businesses and economic entities financing the country's leadership and the Belarussian aviation sector, von der Leyen said.