The European Union and Belarus must show restraint to full clarification of the situation around the forced landing of the Ryanair aircraft in Minsk. With such a call, China appealed to Minsk and Brussels. This was stated by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Country of Zhao Lijiang, reports TASS.
“We drew attention to the received information and believe that the facts relating to this incident are not fully understood,” the diplomat noted. Lijiang stressed that Belarus and the European Union need to “avoid escalation” in relations.
Earlier, the European Union decided to prohibit Belarusian airlines to fly to the airports of its countries and be in their airspace. In addition, the Summit of the Heads of the European Union states urged the International Organization of Civil Aviation (ICAO) to investigate the incident with the Ryanair flight in Belarus and promised to introduce new sanctions against Minsk.
On May 23, the airline of the Ryanair airline, following the route Athens – Vilnius, made an emergency landing in Minsk after reports of mining received from Minsk airport. To accompany the aircraft, the Fighter MiG-29 of the Air Force of Belarus was raised. Immediately after landing, Belarusian security forces detained on board the creator of the Telegram channel NEXTA Roman Protasevich. In Belarus, he is accused of creating extremist formation and calls to mass riots after the presidential elections in August 2020. He may threaten up to 15 years in prison.