MINSK, June 2. /TASS/. Belarus will ask the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to pronounce its judgment on Ukraine and other countries that have unilaterally restricted the use of their airspace, the Belarusian Ministry of Transport and Communications said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Belarus is going to ask the ICAO Council to say if Ukraine and other countries acted legitimately when, in defiance of their international commitments, they introduced bans and restrictions on using their airspace in relation to Belarusian air carriers; to consider what is to be done to ensure the ICAO member-states take uniform measures in relation to identical incidents; and to provide legal interpretation of Ukraine’s threat to use force against a Belarusian civilian aircraft in 2016," the news release runs.
The ministry said that Minsk had several questions to ask if a number of countries, including Ukraine, were objective enough in their interpretation of the Ryanair plane incident that occurred on May 23, 2021, and why they kept quiet when literally a week later, a passenger liner of the same air carrier made an emergency landing in Berlin. The Belarusian air authorities doubt that Kiev is objective enough in its assessment of Belarus’ ability to ensure flight safety. At the same time, they advise foreign air carriers against using Ukraine’s airspace for safety reasons.
"The incidents involving a Sibir airline plane shot down during a Ukrainian air defense exercise in 2001, and the passenger plane of Malaysia Airlines, downed over eastern Ukraine in 2014, as well as the threat to use military force against a civilian Belavia airline plane in 2016, evoke doubts over whether Ukraine does enough for flight safety and aviation security," the news release states.
International regulations
According to the statement, Ukraine’s unilateral decision to keep Belarusian planes out of its airspace violates the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944 and the inter-governmental agreement on air links between the two countries of 1995, which prohibit discrimination against foreign aircraft on the account of nationality.
"This restriction, harmful to the Belarusian airline Belavia and the persons who use its services, was imposed without prior negotiations for a settlement of possible disagreements, which is another example of Ukraine’s violation of its international legal commitments," the Transport Ministry said.
On May 23, a Vilnius-bound passenger plane of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair that left Greece made an emergency landing at Minsk International Airport following a reported threat that there was an explosive device on board. A MiG-29 fighter was scrambled to escort the airliner. After landing, specialists searched the plane but found no bomb. Following the incident, the EU summit prohibited Belarusian airlines from flying to EU airports and through EU airspace and also advised European air carriers to steer clear of Belarusian airspace. Some countries, including Britain, France, Sweden, Latvia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia, have already closed their airspace to the Belarusian airline.