Belarus role in Ryanair landing was ‘gangsterism,’ Irish PM says

Belarus carried out an act of “gangsterism” in diverting a Ryanair Holdings flight last month, Ireland’s Prime Minister, Micheal Martin, said. Belarus officials re-routed the flight from Athens to Vilnius so the passenger plane landed in Minsk, where authorities detained a dissident journalist who’s been outspoken in his criticism of President Alexander Lukashenko. Governments from Europe to the US rejected Lukashenko’s explanation that the detour under escort by a MiG-29 fighter jet was necessary because of a bomb threat that turned out to be fake. The “gangsterism we saw with the hijacking of a plane last month shows a regime which is the opposite of strong,” Martin said in a speech on Saturday. “It is too weak to respect its own people or to respect basic laws.” Ryanair has its headquarters in Ireland. The European Union and the UK responded with outrage to Lukashenko’s actions and banned Belarusian airlines from entering their airspace or landing at their airports. The EU is weighing further sanctions that may include targeting Belarus’s potash industry when the bloc’s foreign ministers meet June 21. <br/>