Putin supports Lukashenka in case of hijacking of Ryanair plane
13:11
The Russian president supported his Belarusian counterpart in connection with the West's reaction to the forcing of the Ryanair plane to land and the detention of blogger Raman Pratasiewicz. At the summit of the European Council, leaders of the Community countries agreed on new anti-Belarusian restrictions, including the prohibition of flights by Belarusian airlines through the airspace of EU countries and preventing them from accessing airports in the countries of the Community. There are also economic sanctions, which are to be decided in the near future.
The Russian leader agreed with Alyaksandr Lukashenka that the EU's harsh reaction to the hijacking of the plane and the detention of the blogger was "an outburst of emotions". Commenting on the hijacking of the plane, Putin referred to the situation on June 2, 2013, when a plane with Bolivian President Evo Morales was forced to land in Vienna, returning home from the Moscow gas exporters forum. The reason was the suspicion that Edward Snowden was on board, accused by the US of revealing state secrets.
The Russian leader pointed out that there was no outrage from Western leaders at the time.
“The plane with the President of Bolivia was forced to land. The president was led out of the plane and nothing, silence,” he said.
Bolivia and other Latin American countries then described the incident as aimed at assassinating Evo Morales.
According to Moscow, which describes the European response to the hijacking of the plane as "shocking", Belarus is ready to clarify the matter. The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, said that Western countries are "demonizing Belarus".
