Abroad|Correspondent ‘s comment
Belarus’s announcement of a bomb threat as the reason for the stopover of Ryanair’s plane is not meant to be credible, writes HS correspondent in Moscow Jussi Niemeläinen.
Belarus manager Alexander Lukashenko put the EU to a tough test on Sunday.
Belarus forced Ryanair’s plane on its way from Athens to Vilnius to land in Minsk, where authorities immediately arrested an opposition journalist on board. Raman Pratasevich. Thus, Belarus practically intercepted an intra-EU flight flown by an EU airline on an EU-registered aircraft.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Monday cannot afford not to react to such arrogance and rogue state action. And a mere reaction is not enough. This time, it should also be tough and credible enough.
As the main target was still the opposition in Belarus. Lukashenko wanted to catch Pratasevich, but at the same time he sent a message to all his exiled opponents. Elsewhere, it is not entirely safe to continue the opposition.
Pratasevich is the founders of the Nexta channels operating in the Telegram messaging service. The channels became popular last summer as protests against the fraud in the presidential election and the beating of protesters began.
The symbols of the movement rose Svyatlana Tsihanouskaya and Marya Kalesnikava, but in practice Nexta informed the places and times of the demonstrations and the development of the situation during the demonstrations.
It has continued to operate at the same time as Belarus has attacked a few alternative communications within the country.
No wonder, then, that Nexta is the number one shock to those in power. That is why they have declared the channels “extreme material” and prosecuted the central figures. Pratasevich also faces 15 years in prison, but new charges may still come.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko photographed in Minsk in April.
In Belarus has its own version of the course of events.
According to it, the plane became a bomb alarm, after which the captain decided to land in Minsk. Pratasevich was accidentally on the plane, so he was caught on the field.
This version is not meant to be credible either. The airline quickly said the alert came from Belarusian air traffic control.
Lukashenko apparently thought he would survive his trick without more serious consequences or else he would no longer care about them. It is difficult to say whether Minsk also thought that there was a NATO dimension to this. In addition to Greece and Lithuania, Poland is also NATO’s country of registration.
In the west attention has slowly shifted from Belarus to elsewhere. Within Belarus, however, the situation has become increasingly authoritarian.
More than 35,000 people have been arrested, thousands have been tortured or ill-treated. There are already more than 400 political prisoners. The least suspected disloyal have been dismissed, prosecuted and the media disciplined.
Minsk commentator Artjon Sraibmanin according to the regime, which has been tightening its grip all the time, has pushed itself into a corner. It does not dare to loosen its grip because it fears angry people will take to the streets again.
But the suspicious regime, of course, does not stop either, but continues to tighten the screw.
In the EU there is, of course, an old problem under consideration: are additional sanctions driving Belarus more closely into Russia’s arms?
After all, Belarus is largely a geopolitical issue for its neighbors. Russia wants to keep it as close as possible to itself, while for the West, the independence of Belarus is strategically important.
Lukashenko has been playing on this for a long time, but now Belarus is already virtually completely dependent on Russia. Since last summer, its distances to the west have been more or less broken. So the old concern is starting to be pretty much theoretical, although of course the situation may get worse. Russian bases in Belarus, for example, would upset the balance throughout the Baltic Sea region.
Forcing a civilian plane into the ground is such a big deal that the EU needs to react strongly. The audience is not only Russia but the whole world, as many tyrants are closely following the EU’s response.
At the same time, the situation in Belarus rose to the headlines again in the West. Perhaps it is now driving the West to rethink its line to Belarus so that the West does not always just have to react.
Read more: Belarus forces Ryanair to land to arrest opposition journalist – Haavisto Yle: Belarus’ explanations flimsy
Read more: The chairman of the Finnish Pilots ‘Association is very concerned about Belarus’ interference in the operation of the passenger plane
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source https://pledgetimes.com/correspondent-s-comment-lukashenkos-main-target-was-the-exiled-opposition-but-forcing-a-router-into-the-country-is-a-big-test-for-the-eu/
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