|
?:reviewBody
|
-
On May 23, a Ryanair flight traveling from Athens to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius was diverted to land in the Belarus capital of Minsk, purportedly due to a bomb threat. Initial reports said the pilots had been told to land at the nearest airport, although flight trackers quickly determined the plane was in fact closer to Vilnius. A Belarusian Air Force MiG-29 fighter was scrambled to "escort" the plane.The flight landed safely and later continued its journey, albeit without noteworthy passengers. Those included Raman Pratasevich, a journalist and blogger with Nexta, an independent, pro-opposition media outlet, who was taken and arrested.Belarusian state media told the story quite differently, with the Belta state news agency reporting on May 23 that President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered the MiG-29 to scramble and trail the plane to Minsk.Although the screenshot of the route shows that the plane was almost over the border [of Belarus]
(en)
|
![[This page as RDF]](http://data.gesis.org/claimskg/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}