In response to the forced diversion of Ryanair’s commercial flight to Minsk National Airport on 23 May, Latvia’s Foreign Minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs, has called on the Minister of Transport to prohibit airlines registered in Latvia from using the airspace of Belarus.
In view of what has happened, the airspace over Belarus cannot be considered safe, and we cannot permit our passengers to run such a risk, the Foreign Minister noted. Edgars Rinkēvičs also called for halting cooperation with Belarusian carriers, including, in particular, the national airline “Belavia”.
At the same time, the European Union Member States will continue coordinating their action in order to adopt a common decision, including possible measures against the Belarusian officials responsible for what happened.
On 23 May, the Belarusian authorities ordered a fighter jet to force a Ryanair civilian flight FR 4978 to perform an emergency landing at Minsk National Airport so that an independent journalist and opposition activist from Belarus, Raman Pratasevich, could be incarcerated. Alongside other Western countries, Latvia calls for an immediate release of the Belarusian activist and to fully guarantee his rights.