Latest editorial
Security use a sniffer dog to check the luggage of passengers on the Ryanair plane with registration number SP-RSM, carrying opposition figure Roman Protasevich
THE European Union and the United States have been criticised for interfering in the internal affairs of Belarus, using the “unacceptable” grounding of a Ryanair plane to press for regime change.
EU leaders promised new sanctions on Belarus after a flight from Greece to Lithuania was grounded on Sunday and passenger Roman Protasevich, a Belarusian opposition journalist, was arrested.
Officials in Minsk claimed that they were responding to a bomb threat when they scrambled fighter jets, forcing Ryanair flight FR4978 to land in the Belarusian capital.
In Washington, the willingness to accept an open war with Russia is growing — at Europe’s expense. While Nato states are being drawn into confrontation, Europe risks becoming the battlefield of a potential world war, warns SEVIM DAGDELEN
MARK HAZELDEN criticises the Western narrative that the incident was an escalation of Russia’s confrontation with the West, given that Belarus, a Russian ally, warned Poland of off-course drones, and the drones were unarmed, cheap wooden decoys
