LONDON, May 27. /TASS/. Countries of the Group of Seven (G7) consider the actions of Belarusian authorities to detain Roman Protasevich, one of the co-founders of the Nexta Telegram channel, which Minsk recognizes as extremist, unprecedented, a joint statement of the member countries made public on Thursday said.

"We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and the High Representative of the European Union condemn in the strongest terms the unprecedented action by the Belarusian authorities in arresting independent journalist, Raman Pratasevich and his companion, Sofia Sopega, after forcing flight FR4978 on which they were travelling to land in Minsk on 23 May," the joint statement said.

"We will enhance our efforts, including through further sanctions as appropriate, to promote accountability for the actions of the Belarusian authorities," the document continued.

The ministers stated that Minsk’s actions "jeopardised the safety of the passengers and crew of the flight" as well as called on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) "to urgently address this challenge to its rules and standards."

"This action also represents a serious attack on media freedom. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Raman Pratasevich, as well as all other journalists and political prisoners held in Belarus," the document stated.

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. A MiG-29 fighter jet alert crew was scrambled to escort the plane. After the landing, the plane was inspected and no bomb was found inside. The Belarusian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into a false bomb alert. Among the passengers on the 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 airport and continued to Vilnius.

Russian national Sapega was detained together with Protasevich. In a video uploaded to the Internet on Tuesday, Sapega said that she was an editor of the Black Book of Belarus Telegram channel which published personal data of Belarusian police officers. In April, this Telegram channel was declared extremist by Gomel’s Zheleznodorozhny District Court.