EUCO President says Belarus actions will not remain without consequences

In one of the most strongly worded denunciations of Belarus’s forced landing of the Ryanair Flight travelling from Athens to Vilnius, European Council President Charles Michel has issued a communique stating: “The incident will not remain without consequences.” 

The statement comes ahead of today’s Special European Council of heads of state and government. The statement condemned Belarus’s actions in the “strongest possible terms” and called for the immediate release of NEXTA journalist Raman Pratasevich. Leaders will be discussing their response to this “unprecedented incident” at the meeting. 

The US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken described Belarussia’s actions as “brazen and shocking” 

As German foreign minister Heiko Maas points out, the fact that this was an Irish airline operating a flight between two EU member state, makes yesterday’s action particularly without precedent.

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney put it more strongly agatin, describing the actions as “state-sponsored… aviation piracy”.

The Chair of the British parliamentary foreign affairs committee Tom Tugendhat along with seven other chairmen of the foreign committees issued a joint statement to stop flights over Belarus, an ICAO investigation and a demand that political prisoners be released.

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