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Global aviation stunned by Belarus jetliner diversion
PARIS (Reuters) – The United Nations’ aviation agency said it was “strongly concerned” by the apparent forced landing of a Ryanair jetliner in Belarus, as global airlines called for an investigation into Sunday’s rare incident.
Aviation leaders reacted with shock after Belarus scrambled a fighter and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair jet to land, before detaining an opposition-minded journalist who had been on board.
The UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said the incident may have contravened a core aviation treaty, part of the international order created after World War Two.
“ICAO is strongly concerned by the apparent forced landing of a Ryanair flight and its passengers, which could be in contravention of the Chicago Convention,” it said.
“We look forward to more information being officially confirmed by the countries and operators concerned.”
Airlines joined a flurry of government protests.
“We strongly condemn any interference or requirement for landing of civil aviation operations that is inconsistent with the rules of international law,” said the International Air Transport Association.
“A full investigation by competent international authorities is needed.”
Aviation experts said the rare incident could fuel debate over the resilience of a decades-old system of cooperation.
ICAO has no regulatory power, but sits at the centre of a system of safety and security standards that keep most airways open across political barriers. These are managed through the Montreal agency by its 193 member states, including Belarus.
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“It looks like a gross abuse of the (Chicago) Convention. It’s piracy,” Kevin Humphreys, a former Irish aviation regulator, told Reuters.
He added he would “not be surprised” if some airlines skirted Belarus airspace while they awaited more details, but stressed each would make its own threat assessment.
“People in the industry will be worried,” he added.
Belarus is an important corridor between Europe and Moscow or southeast Asia and Europe, according to Flightradar 24.
Lawyers say Sunday’s flight was emblematic of a tangle of jurisdictions that share a delicate co-existence in aviation – involving a Polish-registered jet flown by an Irish group between EU nations Greece and Lithuania, over non-EU Belarus.
Under the 1944 Chicago Convention, each country has sovereignty over its own airspace, though the treaty prohibits any use of civil aviation that may endanger safety.
But the right to overfly other countries is enshrined in a side treaty called the International Air Services Transit Agreement, of which Belarus is not listed as a member. Non-treaty members grant overflights according to varying rules.
A separate 1971 treaty that includes Belarus outlaws the seizure of aircraft or knowingly communicating false information in a way that endangers aircraft safety.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said it was “monitoring the situation from the safety perspective.”
It is not the first time an abrupt diversion has fuelled diplomatic tensions, but the first in memory that a commercial flight governed by civil treaties is involved, Humphreys said.
In 2013, Bolivia said President Evo Morales’ plane had been diverted on a flight from Russia and forced to land in Austria over suspicions – later denied – that former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, wanted by Washington for divulging secret details of U.S. surveillance activities, was on board.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Additional reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Alexander Smith, Timothy Heritage and Diane Craft)
Belarusian state TV reported that Roman Protasevich, 26, an opposition blogger exiled in Poland, had been detained in the capital after flight FR4978 was diverted from its Athens-Vilnius route, ostensibly over a security scare.
After landing in Vilnius several hours after the scheduled time, without Mr Protasevich, some passengers described seeing him looking nervous as the flight was diverted to Belarus.
"He just turned to people and said he was facing the death penalty," Lithuanian Monika Simkiene, 40, told AFP.
Edvinas Dimsa, 37, said: "He was not screaming but it was clear that he was very much afraid. It looked like if the window had been open, he would have jumped out of it."
The EU is set to discuss toughening its sanctions against Belarus, which were imposed over the crackdown on opposition protesters by the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko, at a planned summit on Monday.
"The outrageous and illegal behaviour of the regime in Belarus will have consequences," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.
"Those responsible for the Ryanair hijacking must be sanctioned. Journalist Roman Protasevich must be released immediately."
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki denounced Belarus's actions as "an act of state terrorism", while French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for a "strong and united response" from the EU.
Lithuania and Latvia have called for international flights not to use Belarusian airspace.
Minsk's airport earlier said the plane had to make an emergency landing there at 12.15 GMT after a bomb scare.
"The plane was checked, no bomb was found and all passengers were sent for another security search," said Nexta, a Belarus opposition channel on the Telegram messaging app, which Mr Protasevich previously edited.
Mr Lukashenko's press service said on its own Telegram channel that the president had given the order to divert the flight and had ordered a Mig-29 fighter jet to accompany the plane.
Belarus authorities have intensified their crackdown on the opposition after protests gripped the former Soviet country following last year's disputed presidential election.
"The forced landing of a commercial plane to detain a journalist is an unprecedented, shocking act," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted from Athens, where the flight began.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda described Belarus's actions as "abhorrent" and Lithuanian prosecutors said they had opened a criminal investigation for the hijacking of a plane.
The government in Ireland, home of Ryanair, called the incident "absolutely unacceptable", while Nato called it "dangerous" and demanded an international investigation.
Since last August's disputed election, Belarusians have taken to the streets demanding the resignation of Mr Lukashenko, who has ruled for more than two decades.
Mr Protasevich and Nexta founder Stepan Putilo, 22, were last year added to Belarus's list of "individuals involved in terrorist activity".
The two bloggers, both based in Poland, were added to the list over charges of causing mass unrest, an offence punishable by up to 15 years in jail.
Belarus had also called the Nexta Telegram channels and its logo "extremist" and ordered them blocked.
With close to two million subscribers on Telegram, Nexta Live and its sister channel Nexta are prominent voices of the Belarus opposition and helped to organise protesters.
"It is absolutely obvious that this is an operation of secret services to capture the plane in order to detain activist and blogger Roman Protasevich," exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said on Telegram.
The opposition says Ms Tikhanovskaya, who fled to neighbouring Lithuania after the election, was the true winner of last year's presidential vote.
A member of the Nexta team, Tadeusz Giczan, said on Twitter that representatives of the Belarusian security agency had been on the flight with Mr Protasevich.
"Then when the plane had entered Belarus airspace, the KGB officers initiated a fight with the Ryanair crew insisting there's an [improvised explosive device] onboard," he said.
A spokeswoman for state company Lithuanian Airports, Lina Beisine, said that Minsk airport reported the flight was redirected "due to a conflict between a member of the crew and the passengers".
Ryanair said the flight's crew had been notified by Belarus air traffic control of "a potential security threat on board" and were instructed to divert to Minsk, the "nearest" airport.
The EU and the US have imposed sanctions on Mr Lukashenko and dozens of officials and businessmen tied to his regime, with asset freezes and visa bans.
The opposition protests in Belarus, in which at least four people were killed, have subsided, but journalists and activists continue to be jailed.
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