Belarus:
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko will meet Friday following the UN civil aviation agency announced it will investigate the diversion of a passenger plane and the arrest of a journalist on board in a expanding diplomatic row.
The meeting in Sochi among the Kremlin and the Belarusian leader, who enjoys sturdy assistance from Moscow, comes as airlines revealed Russia has blocked some European flights for avoiding Belarus airspace.
The G7 international powers have demanded Belarus release the journalist, Roman Protasevich, and the EU’s foreign policy chief threatened difficult-hitting financial sanctions.
The Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council mentioned it had “decided to undertake a fact-finding investigation of this event”.
It added the body “underlined the importance of establishing the facts of what happened, and of understanding whether there had been any breach by any ICAO Member State of international aviation law.”
Lukashenko sparked international outrage by dispatching a fighter jet Sunday to intercept a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying Protasevich, 26, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, 23.
A nervous-hunting Protasevich was last seen in a video released by Belarusian authorities on Monday in which he was seen supposedly admitting to assisting to organise mass unrest, a charge that could land him 15 years in jail.
“I want you to relay our appeal everywhere, throughout the world, to government representatives, to EU countries, to EU leaders, to US leaders: I am appealing, I am begging, help me free my son,” his mother Natalia told journalists in Warsaw, visibly moved.
His father Dmitry mentioned his son was “a tough man” and “a hero”, adding: “Throughout his life he fought for the truth and passed it on to people, which is why Lukashenko committed this despicable act.”
The couple and their lawyer confirmed they have not had any communication with Protasevich due to the fact his arrest.
– ‘Immediate and unconditional release’ –
Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven wealthy nations on Thursday demanded the “immediate and unconditional release” of Protasevich, “as well as all other journalists and political prisoners held in Belarus”, in a joint statement published by the British government.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell mentioned proposals have been “on the table” to target important sectors of the Belarusian economy.
He mooted targeting the potash fertiliser sector or refusing gas getting delivered to the bloc by means of Belarus more than the “hijacking” of the plane by the regime.
Borrell was echoed by German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass, who also raised the possibility of hitting important firms in the fertiliser sector and mentioned the EU could curb the Belarusian government’s potential to situation bonds in Europe.
But he played down the likelihood of the bloc agreeing rapidly to reject gas transiting via pipelines in Belarus, insisting it was “more of a medium and long-term issue”.
The bloc was also hunting at “targeted sanctions” against the Belarusian authorities to add to the 88 regime figures and seven organizations currently on a blacklist more than a brutal crackdown on the opposition following last year’s disputed presidential election.
At a Thursday briefing in Vilnius, exactly where she fled following last year’s election, exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya known as for an “economic boycott of the regime”.
Christophe Deloire, head of media rights watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) was also in Lithuania to file a legal complaint against Lukashenko with prosecutors investigating Sunday’s incident.
Lukashenko nonetheless enjoys strong assistance from Putin, with the Kremlin web-site describing “integration” among the two nations as “a long-term cherished project for Moscow” ahead of their meeting at the Russian leader’s summer season residence in Sochi.
– Air hyperlinks reduce –
The ICAO, of which Belarus is a member, has no energy to order sanctions and Russia’s assistance for Minsk indicates the UN Security Council is unlikely to agree on a collective statement.
However EU nations are banning Belarusian carriers and the EU has also urged airlines to keep away from the country’s airspace.
On Thursday, Austrian Airlines mentioned it had cancelled a Vienna-Moscow flight following Russian authorities did not approve a route adjust avoiding Belarusian airspace.
An Air France flight from Paris to Moscow on Wednesday had to be cancelled for the similar cause.
– ‘Europe’s last dictator’ –
A defiant Lukashenko mentioned he had “acted lawfully to protect our people” from an alleged bomb threat on the plane, in a parliament address Wednesday.
The criticism was practically nothing more than an additional try by his opponents to undermine his rule, he added.
Lukashenko — usually dubbed “Europe’s last dictator” — is facing some of the strongest international stress of his almost 27 years ruling ex-Soviet Belarus.
He and his allies are currently beneath a series of Western sanctions more than a crackdown on protests following his disputed re-election to a sixth term last August.
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