“Surge of emotions”: Lukashenko and Putin discussed the incident with the Ryanair flight

at a meeting in Sochi Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin discussed the incident with the forced landing of a Ryanair plane on May 23 . The reaction of the international community, the presidents called "a surge of emotion."

“Thank you for coming, as agreed, agreed on this even before the next round ...,” said Putin . “A surge of emotions,” Lukashenka put in. “Yes, a surge of emotions,” the Russian president agreed.

Lukashenka came to the meeting with Putin with a briefcase in which, according to him, he brought documents on the situation in the country. “I, taking advantage of such a trusting attitude, captured some documents. I will show you so that you understand what is happening,” said Lukashenka . According to him, "there are those who want to throw problems" to Russia and Belarus.

During the discussion, Putin recalled the incident with the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales flying from Russia, which was landed in Vienna due to suspicions that former CIA officer Edward Snowden was on board. “The plane of the President of Bolivia was landed at the time. The president was taken out of the plane, and nothing, silence, ” quotes Putin. RBC

Morales incident

In July 2013, on the way from Russia, the plane of Evo Morales, then President of Bolivia, made an unscheduled landing in Vienna. The reason was the withdrawal by the authorities of France, Spain, Italy and Portugal of permits to fly through their airspace. This was due to rumors about the presence on board the plane of ex-CIA officer Edward Snowden, accused in the United States of disclosing state secrets. Prior to that, he flew to Russia, and Morales did not rule out the possibility of granting him political asylum in Bolivia.

The presidential plane was examined and Snowden was not found there. Later, Bolivia and other Latin American countries regarded the incident as an attempt on the life of Morales in gross violation of international agreements. In September of that year, French, Portuguese, Italian and Spanish authorities apologized and Morales called the incident over.

Find out more

The incident with a forced landing in Minsk of a Ryanair aircraft, during which the Belarusian security forces detained NEXTA co-founder Roman Protasevich, provoked a tense geopolitical situation around Belarus, the collapse of the country's public debt and the blocking of air traffic on the main routes of the country's main airline Belavia by the EU countries. The main export items of Belarus were also under threat. What exactly, we told here .

Cover photo: Administration of the President of Russia