Poland condemns Ryanair forced landing in Belarus as "act of state terrorism"

Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński said on Monday that the forced grounding of the Ryanair passenger plane meant "danger to any EU citizen who may find themselves in Belarusian airspace". He added that it was Poland's and EU's duty to respond accordingly.

"As to sanctions against Belarus, plenty of options are being considered. I wouldn't like to get ahead of myself at the moment" - Jabłoński said.

He added that "decisions in that regard will be made today, as what happened yesterday was a pure act of state terrorism".

"We expect that the European Union's reaction will be very strong and immediate," Jabloński told Reuters as EU leaders are expected to discuss additional sanctions against Belarus at a summit starting in Brussels later on Monday.

"The plane was registered in Poland and so the case falls under Polish jurisdiction" - the deputy foreign minister explained.

"Today the Ryanair civil airplane was hijacked. This is an act of state terrorism committed on Lukashenka's order" - Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau tweeted on Sunday.

He also called for an immediate release of the detained dissident Roman Protasevich.

"Let me remind that terrorists of all kinds are enemies of humankind, have to be condemned and prosecuted" - Rau stressed.

"On 23 May 2021, Undersecretary of State Marcin Przydacz urgently summoned chargé d’affaires of the Republic of Belarus, Aliaksandr Chasnouski to the MFA. The meeting was requested to express Poland’s firm protest against forcing a civilian Ryanair jetliner belonging to a company registered in the Republic of Poland to land" - Poland's MFA said in a statement late on Sunday.

"On the pretext of a bomb threat and applying air safety procedures, the airplane en route from Athens to Vilnius with passengers of many European countries on board was forced to perform an emergency landing in Minsk, where a Belarusian opposition activist Roman Protasevich was arrested. This act bears resemblance to an act of state terrorism" - the statement reads.

"Limiting the freedom of decision making of the aircraft’s captain, the authorities of the Republic of Belarus posed a danger to air traffic and put the lives of the plane’s passengers and crew at risk. The circumstances of the act have to be immediately explained with relevant international institutions. International community cannot leave such actions without a decisive response" - Poland's MFA underscored.

Poland's prime minister on Sunday condemned the detention of Belarusian opposition activist Roman Protasevich and called on the European Union to discuss sanctions against Belarus.

"I condemn in the strongest terms the detention of Roman Protasevich by Belarusian authorities, after a Ryanair passenger aircraft was hijacked. This is a reprehensible act of state terrorism," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter.

He added that he had asked the European Council's president to discuss immediate sanctions against Belarus during a meeting scheduled for Monday.

"The sanctions should primarily apply to air traffic on the territory of Belarus and a flight ban for Belarusian airlines," Morawiecki told state news agency PAP.

Poland's government has repeatedly condemned Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko and called for increased sanctions against Belarus.

The diplomatic row between two countries worsened in March, when Andżelika Borys, head of the Association of Poles in Belarus, and Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist, activist and member of the association, were detained.

Morawiecki said on Sunday that the ambassador of Belarus to Warsaw was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately.

"We demand from the Belarusian authorities (the) immediate release of Roman Protasevich, as well as the illegally detained Andżelika Borys, Andrzej Poczobut and other Polish and Belarusian activists. We also demand that repressions against independent media and society are stopped," he told PAP.