DISINFO: Belarus offered the Ryanair plane to land at Minsk airport after a bomb threat
SUMMARY
On May 23, a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius was already in Belarusian airspace when a flight dispatcher received a report of a bomb onboard. The dispatcher, in order to avoid a catastrophe, in accordance with international instructions, ordered that the plane be allowed to land at Minsk Airport. According to the existing rules, the plane was assisted to the runway by a Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet.
The President of Belarus says that based on the information about the presence of a bomb onboard, the dispatcher offered the pilot to land the plane. If such a message existed, how could Belarus make a different decision?
RESPONSE
Several disinformation claims about the Ryanair flight 4978.
Research performed by the Daily Beast and the Newlines magazine demonstrate that the alleged bomb threat was delivered 24 minutes AFTER the Ryanair flight was redirected.
A false representation of the communication between air traffic control and the flight crew of FR4978. The Belarusian Ministry of Transport has published the transcript of the communication. From this source, it is clear that the instructions to land at Minsk come from air traffic control (ATC).
It is also not true that Belarus acted in accordance with international instructions and existing rules. Rather, Belarus's authorities breached the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air (aka Montreal Convention).
On Sunday, 23 May 2021, the Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was forced to turn back minutes before crossing the Lithuanian border and land in the Belarusian capital. The pretext for landing in Minsk was a false report about the bomb on board. At the moment when the plane changed course, it was closer to Vilnius airport than to Minsk. The plane was forced to land in the Belarusian capital by a Belarusian military aircraft. To land in the Belarusian capital was not the Ryanair pilots' decision.
Belarusian dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich was detained during a repeated security check of passengers.
The EU condemned Belarusian action against civil plane and the detention of Pratasevich. In a declaration on behalf of the EU on the forced diversion of Ryanair flight FR4978 to Minsk on 23 May 2021, the High Representative called for the immediate release of Raman Pratasevich. This was followed by a European Council statement, in which the EU leaders called for targeted individual and economic sanctions as well as to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and prevent access to EU airports of flights operated by these.