Romania condemns flight diversion to Belarus, voices concern over journalist arrest

Romania's Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement condemning Belarus authorities for forcing a flight carrying Belarusian opposition journalist Roman Protasevich to land in Minsk.

Protasevich, a critic of president Alexander Lukashenko, was detained after a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was diverted to Minsk.

"MAE is deeply concerned regarding the inadmissible act of the Belarus authorities to force a passenger flight on the Athens-Vilnius route to land in Minsk and condemns it strongly," a statementfrom the ministry reads.

MAE called the incident "extremely serious" and said it was concerned about the arrest of the Belarusian journalist.

It also said it supported the "need to urgently start an independent international investigation to determine the exact circumstances of this serious incident."

The Belarus ambassador to Bucharest was called in for a meeting at MAE on Monday, May 24.

The European Union, UK, and the US have condemned the diversion of the flight. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said "the outrageous and illegal behavior of the regime in Belarus will have consequences."

The outrageous and illegal behaviour of the regime in Belarus will have consequences. Those responsible for the #Ryanair hijacking must be sanctioned. Journalist Roman Protasevich must be released immediately. EUCO will discuss tomorrow action to take. — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 23, 2021

EU leaders are expected to discuss the incident at Monday's meeting of the European Council.

(Photo: Dominik Fiebig | Dreamstime.com)