EU closes airspace to Belarus planes

The European Union has banned Belarusian planes from entering its airspace in response to last month’s forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk, officials have announced.

A Belavia Belarusian Airlines plane is pictured at Minsk Airport.

Photo: EPA/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

The ban kicked in across the 27-nation bloc on June 5.

Poland's national air carrier LOT has suspended flights to Minsk and ceased to use Belarusian airspace after Belarus on May 23 scrambled a fighter jet to divert a Ryanair plane and detain a dissident journalist.

European Union leaders meeting in Brussels last month agreed to impose more sanctions on Belarus and called on airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace, while also authorizing work to ban Belarusian airlines from European skies and airports.

Top Polish officials have condemned Belarus for intercepting a Ryanair aircraft carrying Roman Protasevich—an opposition-minded journalist critical of strongman Alexander Lukashenko’s regime—and forcing the flight to land in Minsk.

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Source: IAR, PAP