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Crisis in Belarus

Moscow has no grounds not to trust Minsk about Ryanair flight incident — Kremlin

Belarus did not force the plane to land at its own initiative, it was following the appropriate rules in case of receiving a threat, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told

MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/. Moscow sees no grounds not to trust the explanations of the Belarusian side with regards to the actions undertaken in the situation with a Ryanair flight, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday.

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Lukashenko says bomb threat against Ryanair plane came from Switzerland

"As far as we understand, it [Belarus] did not force the plane to land at its own initiative, it was following the appropriate rules in case of receiving a threat. And here we do not see any grounds not to trust the Belarusian side," the Kremlin representative emphasized.

In response to a question on whether the remarks of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Switzerland’s role in the situation around the Ryanair flight would influence the upcoming June 16 meeting in Geneva of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Joe Biden, the spokesman stressed that "Lukashenko never said that Switzerland was involved." He reiterated that the Belarusian leader said that a bomb threat came from Switzerland. "This does not mean that Switzerland was involved. Such slips of the tongue are highly unnecessary in this situation," Putin’s press secretary asserted. He noted that "it doesn’t have anything to do with Switzerland itself."

On May 23, a Vilnius-bound Ryanair plane that took off from Athens made an emergency landing at Minsk International Airport after a reported bomb threat. After the landing and inspection, no bomb was found inside. The Belarusian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into a false bomb alarm. Among the passengers on that flight was Roman Protasevich, one of the co-founders of the Nexta Telegram channel, which Minsk recognizes as extremist. Protasevich was detained by law enforcement officials once the plane had landed in the Belarusian capital. On Sunday evening, the plane left Minsk’s airport and soon landed in Vilnius.

On Monday, EU leaders decided to block Belarusian airlines from landing at EU airports and flying over the EU, also advising European carriers to suspend flights in the country’s airspace. Additionally, the summit resolved to introduce new emergency sanctions against Minsk.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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