Question of the day: can Lukashenko be accused of air piracy?

As you know, on May 23, 2021, a Ryanair plane flying on the Athens-Vilnius route urgently landed at the Minsk airport after receiving a false message about mining, while the order to land was given personally by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, and towards the passenger plane was the MiG-29 fighter of the Belarusian Air Force was raised.

This whole operation was organized only in order to detain the co-founder of the telegram channel NEXTA Roman Protasevich, who was flying by this plane.

This action was the first case of air piracy in the history of aviation, carried out by the special services of an entire country, said technical expert Vadim Lukashevich, clarifying the details of this incident:

“To make it finally clear - the pilots of the Ryanair plane forced to land in Belarus pulled to Vilnius to the last. They had to turn back under the threat of a fighter, when the flight to Vilnius airport was only 10 minutes (73 km), and only 30 km to the Lithuanian border.

Pay attention to the FlightRadar data on previous flights - pilots always started their descent from the cruising level 177 kilometers to Vilnius, but this time (the blue trajectory of today's ATH-VNO Ryanair flight) the pilots were heading towards Lithuania without slowing down or slowing down, at the cruising level FL 390 and cruising speed, i.e. in fact, we DEPARTED FROM THE CHAIRING of their fighter, and turned back just two minutes before crossing the Lithuanian border.

I will undertake to assert that the fighter had permission to use weapons, and I am absolutely sure that the crew of the passenger airliner turned around only after receiving a notification from the Belarusian fighter that in case of disobedience it would open fire before the passenger plane left the airspace of Belarus..."

Meanwhile, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has already demanded the release of Protasevich and called on the international community to take action. “I demand that the Belarusian regime immediately release the detainee and allow him, as well as all the other passengers of the plane, to continue their flight to Vilnius. I appeal to allies in NATO and the European Union with an appeal to immediately respond to the threat posed by the Belarusian regime to international civil aviation”.

These events caused a violent reaction in the camp of the Russian opposition. So, political scientist Kirill Rogov called them a "potential Belli incident":

“The next act of international state terrorism with the hijacking of a foreign aircraft was largely the result of connivance on the part of the EU in relation to the previous operations of the intelligence services of the eastern dictatorships in the territory of the European Union. In principle, such an incident should be considered a “potential incident belli”. That is, armed intervention.

One way or another, we are talking about another turning point. So far, the EU has given an excuse not to seriously consider its concerns and sanctions threats. And this only stimulated the taste for provocations from the east. The question is whether the EU possesses at least some means of pressure (in principle, yes) and political will (in principle, no) to mark the “line of real losses” and significant consequences for the eastern dictatorships.

It should be understood that even today Lukashenko has neither political subjectivity, nor actual sovereignty, but plays the role of only the frontman of the Kremlin. One must also understand that the standards of persecution of the opposition in Belarus will become standards in Russia in one and a half two years or earlier.

PS It is important to remember that there was no signal that there was a bomb on board. It was a fiction of the Belarusian special services. Covering operation to hijack the vessel..."

Political scientist Konstantin Sonin explains the motives of the Belarusian president's action:

“What's the point in arresting the founder of the independent telegram channel NEXTA? Lukashenko’s power has been holding on in recent months only on violence because he has lost support in all social groups and strata of Belarus, and not because there are some telegram channels or mass media. The Belarusians know very well that the overwhelming majority hates Lukashenko, that he ruined the economy and is ready to ruin the country in order to avoid responsibility; most are afraid to oppose him because of the constant arrests, beatings and murders. Everyone knows this without any media. In the same way, the arrest does not make sense from the point of view of terror of the population - everyone is intimidated anyway.

So what's the point? And the meaning is precisely this - in order to justify, for oneself and one's surroundings, what has been done in recent months - the complete destruction of the country and the economy, it is necessary that the enemy not only be, but that the enemy "attacked". It is clear that no one - I think, even in Lukashenko's inner circle - believes the nonsense that America or Europe will attack Belarus. And now, at least with some reason, it will be possible to talk about sanctions. It seems to me that the propaganda role for this has long been pure zero, but some kind of picture for the nearest circle and myself - why do I ruin the country every day? - yes, to defend against an EU attack! - makes some sense..."

Meanwhile, this case may affect and most likely will affect many Russian citizens, since Belarusian aircraft may simply be banned from flights on international routes:

“And if earlier for those who had in mind the opportunity to leave Russia through Minsk, when it starts in Russia, then now keep in mind: it will not work. So, if anyone was going to bring down from there, be careful: "be careful, the doors are closing" ... "- they write on the network.

However, many recalled in connection with these events - a similar incident that happened in 2013, when, at the insistence of the American government (the president of the United States was then fiercely hated by the Russian authorities, Barack Obama), the plane of the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, flying from Moscow, was landed in Vienna. in connection with information about the possible presence of Edward Snowden on board. A former CIA officer, as you know, at the beginning of June 2013 gave the Guardian and The Washington Post classified information concerning the total surveillance of information communications between citizens of many states around the world by the American intelligence services. In this regard, in the United States, Snowden was charged in absentia with espionage and theft of state property.

On July 2, 2013, the governments of France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, as well as a number of other European states, banned the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales from entering the airspace of their countries after leaving Moscow, in connection with which the plane was forced to land in Vienna. When the plane was inspected in Vienna by the Austrian security service, it turned out that Snowden was not there, but the incident with the search of the plane helped Edward Snowden subsequently obtain asylum in Russia.

So, in the hands of Alexander Lukashenko there is a very strong trump card: since the United States is allowed to forcefully land passenger planes, why cannot Belarus do this?

In any case, many of Lukashenko's defenders are talking about this, and some, such as the famous propagandist Margarita Simonyan, even envy the Belarusian dictator:

“I never thought that I would envy Belarus in any way. But now I somehow envy. Old Man performed beautifully..."