TASS, May 25. Palestinian radical movement Hamas on Monday dismissed the Belarusian authorities’ statement on its possible link to the incident with a Ryanair jet, which made an emergency landing in Minsk on May 23 over a reported bomb threat, Reuters said.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group "has nothing to do with that completely."

"We don’t resort to these methods, which could be the doing of some suspicious parties that aim to demonize Hamas and foil the state of world sympathy with our Palestinian people and their legitimate resistance," the Hamas spokesman was quoted by the news agency as saying.

A Vilnius-bound Ryanair flight that took off from Athens was forced to make an emergency landing at Minsk International Airport on Sunday after a reported bomb threat. The plane landed safely and no bomb was found onboard. Roman Protasevich, one of the co-founders of the Nexta Telegram channel, which was recognized as extremist in Belarus, was among the passengers. Protasevich, currently living in Lithuania and wanted in Belarus, was detained after the airliner had landed in the Belarusian capital. The plane left Minsk and continued on to Vilnius late on Sunday.