In his first public remarks since the Ryanair hijacking, Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko claimed warnings about a bomb on the passenger plane came from Switzerland.
Mr Lukashenko was speaking to a group of MPs and officials in Minsk, on Wednesday morning. He also said that the incident showed Europe was acting with his domestic enemies to destabilise Belarus.
“As we predicted, ill-wishers from outside and inside the country, have changed their methods of attacking us,” he said.
“They have crossed many red lines and crossed the boundaries of common sense and human morality.”
The 26 leader said Belarus had become an “experimental shooting range” for the West, which intended to march eastward, on to Russia.
Opposition blogger Roman Protasevich was removed and arrested when the plane was diverted to the Belarus capital.
The fall out from Mr Lukashenko’s extraordinary intervention has propelled Belarus to the world’s front pages for the first time since mass protests last summer.
Europe has already responded in uncharacteristically swift fashion, announcing a new package of sanctions targeting Belarus’s state airline, state enterprises, and those in Mr Lukashenko inner circle.
Related posts:
Views: 0