The Foreign Ministry denied reports that four Russians got off the flight in Minsk

Messages on social networks “about some “four Russian citizens” who allegedly got off the plane in Minsk and did not return on board” are not true, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. According to her, apart from Sofya Sapieha in Minsk, none of the Russian citizens got off the Ryanair flight, the citizens of Belarus and Greece got off.

Earlier it became known that Sapieha, who was detained together with the co-founder of the telegram channel NEXTA Roman Protasevich, is in the notorious detention center on Akrestsina Street in Minsk. Detainees were kept there during mass protests in Belarus, many of them complained of ill-treatment. Sapieha's family has already met with the consul, the girl is suspected "of committing crimes in the period from August to September 2020."

Protasevich was detained on May 23. He flew from Athens to Vilnius, but during a flight over the territory of Belarus, a Ryanair aircraft was forcibly landed in Minsk under the pretext of a “mining report”. He was accompanied by a MiG-29 of the Belarusian Air Force. Information about the mining of the liner was not confirmed. Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary called the forced landing of his airline's plane in Minsk "an act of state-paid piracy."

Today, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko planned to make a statement about the incident with the plane, but it has been postponed until tomorrow, May 26.

Negotiations with the dispatcher

The Ministry of Transport of Belarus on Tuesday published a fragment of the conversation between the Belarusian dispatcher and the pilot of the Ryanair aircraft. According to the transcript, the dispatcher told the pilot that, according to the security services, there was a bomb on board the liner that could be set off over Vilnius. For “security purposes”, the dispatcher recommended landing at the Minsk airport. The pilot asked for alternative options for action and began to ask where the information about the mining came from. The dispatcher explained that the airport received information about the bomb by e-mail.

When asked by the pilot where the recommendation to send the plane to Minsk came from - from the authorities, from the airport of departure or arrival, the dispatcher replied: "This is our recommendation." Six minutes later, the pilot announced a distress signal and agreed to direct the plane to land at the Minsk airport.

Find out more

After the “forced landing” of a Ryanair plane in Minsk, the European Union announced that it would close the sky for Belarusian airlines - Belavia would be banned from flying to EU countries, and European carriers were recommended to fly around the country. Also, Ukraine has suspended flights with Belarus. We talked about how the world reacts to the detention of the co-founder of NEXTA in Minsk here .