The Belarusian government was behind the bomb threat that forced a Ryanair plane to make an emergency landing in Minsk in 2021, the UN aviation agency International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) admits.
The plane was en route from Greece to Lithuania. After the emergency landing in the Belarusian capital, Belarusian opposition member Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend were arrested.
It has been said for some time that Belarus forced the plane to land, but the government of President Alexander Lukashenko has always denied this.
In early 2022, four high-ranking Belarusian officials in the United States were charged with air piracy. ICAO had previously said it was not sure who was behind the bomb threat, but is now coming back to that.
“ICAO acknowledges that the bomb threat was intentionally false and endangered safety. ICAO also acknowledges that the report was communicated to the crew of the plane by senior officials in Belarus,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
–
