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French top diplomat calls for Europe’s response to Ryanair flight incident in Belarus

Jean-Yves Le Drian also called for letting all the plane’s passengers leave Belarus immediately, "including possible Belarusian opposition activists"

PARIS, May 23. /TASS/. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has called on European nations to give a resolute response to the incident with the Ryanair flight landing in Minsk.

According to the French top diplomat, diverting of the Ryanair flight to Minsk is inadmissible. "A resolute common response of European countries in needed," he wrote on his Twitter account. He also called for letting all the plane’s passengers leave Belarus immediately, "including possible Belarusian opposition activists."

The Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius made an emergency landing at Minsk’s airport after a reported bomb threat. The plane landed safely. No bomb was found inside.

It was reported after the plane’s landing that former editor-in-chief of the Nexta Telegram channel, which had been recognized as extremist in Belarus, Romat Protasevich, was among the passengers. The man was detained.

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