Western powers voice outrage as Belarus accused of hijacking plane

The entire European Union, including Germany, is deeply angered by the forced arrest of a journalist by Belarus. In this regard, the European Union has asked Belarus for cleanliness. He was arrested when he was flying from Greece to Lithuania by plane. During this time, his plane was forcibly landed in Minsk, Belarus and he was arrested.

26-year-old Raman Dimitriyevich Protasevich is a political activist. He works as a journalist and is a critic of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. He also formed a social networking group to oppose the president, which was hacked in 2012. In 2012, he was admitted to the Journalism Department of Belarus State University. But he was expelled by the university accusing him. However, the court acquitted him of all the offenses. In 2017, he was also accused of unauthorized organizing. From 2019, he worked as a photographer for EuroRedio and during this time he moved to Poland. Political asylum was sought from Poland in January 2020. He along with his partner runs a blog called Nexta.

The German Foreign Ministry has even stated that Belarus will have to bear the consequences for this step. Germany’s Foreign Minister Haikko Maas said that Protacevich’s plane was forcibly intercepted and then arrested. According to Haikou, this is a serious step in the movement of civil aircraft in Europe. He has also tweeted against the move by Belarus, stating that Germany wants cleanliness in the matter. At the same time, France has also rejected Belarus’s move as unacceptable. 

Apart from Europe, America has also strongly condemned this incident. The US Secretary of State Antti Blinken has called the Belarus move a “terrible act”, demanding the immediate release of Protasevich. Greece and Lithuania have also strongly condemned the move to Belarus. Greece’s Prime Minister Kiryakos Mitsotakis has demanded the immediate release of all passengers. He has also said that pressure should be put on Belarus regarding this. Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda said, Belarus has done all this intentionally. He too has demanded the release of Protasevich immediately.