UNITED NATIONS, May 28. /TASS/. Roman Protasevich, who was taken into custody in Minsk, was a member of Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, a known neo-Nazi regiment, which is why he was put on an international wanted list, Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said on Friday.

When asked if Russia would seek Protasevich’s release, Polyansky said: "Mr. Protasevich indeed was a blogger but before becoming one, he had been a combatant in Ukraine and fought in the ranks of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, together with neo-Nazi and far-right groups." "I think this is why the Belarusian authorities requested an international arrest warrant for him," he specified.

On May 23, a Vilnius-bound Ryanair flight that took off from Athens was forced to make an emergency landing in the Belarusian capital of Minsk after a reported bomb threat, which came up empty. One of the flight’s passengers was Roman Protasevich, wanted in Belarus as a co-founder of the Nexta Telegram channel, which the Belarusian authorities recognized as an extremist entity. He was detained upon landing. The flight departed later that same day, continuing on to its final destination of Vilnius.