US and Several European Countries Call for Ban on All Flights in Belarusian Airspace

The chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez, along with partners from the Czech Republic, Latvia, Germany, Lithuania, Ireland, Poland, and the United Kingdom, has issued a statement regarding the incident involving a Ryanair flight that made an emergency landing in Minsk, calling for a ban on all flights in Belarusian airspace.

"We urge the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to urgently investigate this apparent violation of free transit between states and the threats to aviation," the statement published by Menendez's press office reads. The lawmakers have called for the suspension of Belarus's membership in ICAO and an immediate ban on all flights in Belarusian airspace, including flights to and from the country, until an investigation is completed.

Additionally, the statement contains a directive to NATO and EU countries to impose sanctions on Minsk and to stop the Belarusian authorities' potential use of Interpol and other international organizations for further attacks on democracy in Europe. "We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Roman Protasevich and other political prisoners," the document emphasizes, as reported by RIA Novosti.

As previously reported, Roman Protasevich, the former chief editor of the Nexta Telegram channel, was detained in Minsk. The former head of the media outlet, recognized as extremist in Belarus, was taken into custody after the airplane flying from Athens to Vilnius made an emergency landing in Minsk following a bomb threat.