MINSK, 26 May (BelTA) - The West's response to the Ryanair incident is an organized provocation, political scientist Yuri Voskresensky told the media ahead of the meeting of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko with MPs, members of the Constitutional Commission and representatives of public administration bodies, BelTA learned.
"The Belarusian president has a great political intuition. Therefore, now the whole society is waiting for him to answer the questions related to the recent events, the provocation which was organized by a number of countries against Belarus. Judging by how they churned out their emergency statements on Sunday evening that was an organized provocation. This is obvious," Yuri Voskresensky said.
"This is despite the fact that they cannot find agreement for months or even years on a number of issues sensitive for European citizens. This is an obvious provocation,” Yuri Voskresensky added.
BelTA reported earlier that an aircraft of the air carrier Ryanair was flying over Belarus on the way from Athens to Vilnius on 23 May. The aircraft sent a distress signal. The airport received the signal at 12:50. The FR4978 flight squawked code 7700 – it is the main emergency code, which signifies an emergency situation on board. A message about a bomb on board the aircraft was the reason for the distress call.
The pilot-in-command decided to divert the aircraft to the Minsk National Airport where the aircraft landed at 13:15. Emergency response teams of the airport, ambulances, aviation security personnel, and K9 specialists had already been waiting for the aircraft at the parking apron. Prompt security checks were made. Additional units of the Emergencies Ministry arrived. Representatives of law enforcement agencies worked on site.
There were 123 passengers on board. All of them went through an additional aviation security check and were delivered to the airport's transit lounge for investigation measures. The luggage was also removed from the aircraft and submitted to an additional security check. The tip about the bomb on board the aircraft proved false. The aircraft left the Minsk National Airport for Vilnius at 20:48.
The Investigative Committee branch of Minsk's Oktyabrsky District has opened a criminal case into a knowingly false report about danger in line with part 1, Article 340 of the Criminal Code.
The Belarusian authorities have expressed their readiness to provide all the relevant materials to international experts, to investigate all the circumstances of the incident with the aircraft as openly as possible.
