The British authorities have imposed sanctions against Belarus. An akin decision served as a response to the incident with a Ryanair plane, which was forced to land in Minskmso the opposition journalist Roman Protasevich could be detained, The Guardian reports.
British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said that London has imposed sanctions agaist 99 Belarusian entities and individuals.
“Raab says the UK is demanding his immediate release. He says what happened to the flight was a threat to flights everywhere. He says the UK wants to seen an urgent meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to discuss this. He says UK airlines have been told to suspend flights through Belarusian airspace. And he says the operating permit for Belavia, the Belarusian airline, has been suspended for UK,” The Guardian reported.
It's worth noting that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has also instructed the government to prepare a decision on the termination of a flight connection with the Republic of Belarus and close its airspace. At the same time, Belarus denied that it forced the plane to land in Minsk on its way from Athens to Vilnius on Sunday, May 23. The commander of the Air Force and Air Defense Troops of the Republic of Berarus said that the Belarusian Air Force did not force Ryanair aircraft to land, and Artem Sikorsky, Director of the Aviation Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Belarus, said that the information about the threat of the terrorist attack came from Hamas militants.