Belarus Fighter Jet Forces Ryanair Plane To Land To Detain Exiled Activist

A Ryanair flight from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuanian, was forced to land in the Belarusian capital Minsk by a fighter jet. Once the plane landed, authorities took Raman Pratasevich, an exile and a vocal critic of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, into custody.

Pratasevich is considered a terrorist by the Belarusian government and faces the death penalty if he is convicted.

Belarusian officials said a Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jet was dispatched after authorities received an unconfirmed report of a bomb threat against the airplane.

Officials in Lithuania gave a different story as to why the plane landed in Minsk. They said that the pilot made an emergency landing because of an altercation between a passenger and members of the crew.

When the jet landed, all the passengers were deplaned and underwent security screenings. Officials found no evidence of explosives on the plane. After several hours, the flight was allowed to continue on its journey to Vilnius.

The U.S. ambassador to Belarus, Julie Fisher, accused Lukashenko of faking the bomb threat to arrest Pratasevich.

"Lukashenka and his regime today showed again its contempt for international community and its citizens. Faking a bomb threat and sending MiG-29s to force @RyanAir to Minsk in order to arrest a @Nexta journalist on politically motivated charges is dangerous and abhorrent," she wrote on Twitter.

European Council chairman Charles Michel said that European Union leaders would meet to discuss the "unprecedented incident" and vowed that there would be "consequences."

"I call on Belarus authorities to immediately release the detained passenger and to fully guarantee his rights," he said.

Photo: Getty Images