UPDATES WITH COMMENTS BY RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, ADDS BACKGROUND
By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) – The Kremlin spokesman on Monday refused to either support or condemn the landing of Ryanair’s flight in Belarus.
Speaking at a phone conference in Moscow, Dmitry Peskov said the situation has to be examined in accordance with the existing international rules of aviation.
"There are international aviation regulations. And the international aviation authorities should give an assessment in terms of compliance or non-compliance with these international standards.
"For now, there is a need for a sober assessment of the incident with this plane. In this case, there are a lot of contradictory statements, and we would not like to participate in this race, to condemn or support something. I repeat once again, I refrain from making any comments," he said.
In a separate statement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Ryanair landing incident should be assessed based on all available information.
Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, following a meeting with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias, Lavrov confirmed that a Russian citizen has accompanied the detained journalist, and requested consular access to her.
Lavrov recalled that there were lots of similar incidents in the past that did not provoke such a harsh reaction.
"The most famous episode of 2013 [occurred] when, at the insistence of the US, Austria forced the plane of the President of Bolivia to land without any subsequent apology. And the case that is not often talked about, 2016, the plane of the Belarusian Airlines was forcibly landed in Kiev, because the Security Service of Ukraine was interested in an Armenian citizen who was on board. This citizen was taken out from the flight, and the plane continued its flight without any changes," the minister said.
Meanwhile, Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said the plane was grounded on the bomb alert to ensure passengers' security in accordance with international rules, and that the situation was politicized by some countries.
On Sunday, a Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS flight from Greece's capital Athens to Vilnius landed in the Belarusian capital Minsk due to a bomb threat, and Roman Protasevich, a journalist wanted for his involvement in "terrorism incidents," was reportedly detained.
After that, the plane continued its way and successfully arrived in the Lithuanian capital.
Protasevich is the founder of a social media news channel, which reportedly played a major role in protests last summer in Belarus’ capital Minsk demanding the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko after he was awarded a sixth term in a presidential election.
