The European Union does not leave the forced landing of a Ryanair plane unpunished. Among other things, the new package of sanctions against Belarus includes an EU-wide flight and landing ban. The 27 heads of state and government agree on this at the EU special summit.
According to this, Belarusian airlines should no longer be allowed to use the airspace and airports of the EU. In their summit declaration, the heads of state and government also called on airlines from the EU not to fly over the airspace of Belarus any longer.
"The verdict was unanimous, this is an attack on democracy, this is an attack on freedom of expression and this is an attack on European sovereignty," said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "This outrageous behavior requires a strong response."
The first airlines are already avoiding the airspace
The airlines Lufthansa, SAS, Wizzair and Air Baltic announced that they will no longer fly over Belarus in the future. Lithuania, where the Ryanair plane was on its way on Sunday, already banned all take-offs and landings of machines that fly over Belarusian airspace, such as from Tuesday stern.de reported. The Ukrainian President is putting Belarus-related trips on hold for the time being. The Lithuanian government has already confirmed such plans.
On Sunday, Minsk forced a Ryanair plane to make a stopover in Minsk on its way from Athens to Vilnius under the pretext of a bomb threat from radical Islamic Hamas and with a fighter jet. After the landing, the opposition protassevich, who lived in exile in Poland and Lithuania, and his girlfriend from Russia were arrested.