Ryanair ‘hijacking’ news: Arrested journalist makes video statement as EU to sanction Belarus

“A death sentence is waiting for me here,” Roman Protasevich is reported to have told fellow passengers when they asked him why he was shaking as the Ryanair flight descended into Minsk yesterday.

One exhausted passenger, speaking to reporters without giving her name, told Reuters the dissident looked “super scared”, adding: “I looked directly into his eyes and he was very sad.”

The Belarusian foreign ministry has insisted that the country's authorities acted “in full conformity with international rules” and hit back at the denunciations by many of its fellow Europeans.

Accusing the EU of “intentional politicisation”, spokesperson Anatoliy Glaz derided the “the haste of openly belligerent statements from a number of countries and European structures” as “striking”.

In a previously unpublished interview given to The Independent’s Moscow correspondent Oliver Carroll last August, now-detained journalist Roman Protasevich said his Telegram platform Nexta – the go-to space for information during the mass protests which erupted last year – felt it had been left with “no option” but to step up and open its resources to the opposition movement.

“We realised it was our time,” the journalist said. “We saw that those who had the potential to be a protest leader were either in prison or under surveillance. It was our time to step up.”

Oliver reports that, as the president began blocking off swathes of the traditional internet, Nexta came into its own, amassing more than a billion hits by the end of September.

At the height of the demonstrations, the Nexta team was receiving 10,000 messages an hour, many from sources inside the regime – which it then curated and presented back to its readers, briefly becoming the most popular media in the post-Soviet space.

You can read more exclusive comments from Mr Protasevich and details on his work here:

Belarus has been threatened with fresh UK sanctions over yesterday’s incident, but outraged MPs say tougher action yet is needed.

Ahead of talks with EU leaders on a joint response, our deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports that foreign secretary Dominic Raab toughened his stance, condemning the “outlandish action” and putting “further sanctions” on the table.

But he was urged to go further – by summoning the Belarus ambassador and by suspending all flights over the rogue country, to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Amid allegations from Ryanair, among others, that Belarusian KGB agents may have departed the flight when it landed at Minsk, the Lithuanian chief of criminal police has said that five passengers who boarded the flight in Athens – bound for Vilnius – did not reach their destination.

Rolandas Kiskis said he would not comment on the people who remained in Minsk.

Poland's prosecutor general has ordered an investigation into yesterday’s incident, a spokesperson has said.

“The prosecutor general has ordered an investigation into the landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk. Most probably the investigation will also involve a number of steps at the international level,” the prosecutor's office spokesman told Reuters.

The plane was registered in Poland and so the case falls under Polish jurisdiction, deputy foreign minister Pawel Jablonski said.

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

My colleague Adam Forrest has more on the threat of further sanctions against Belarus by the UK and EU.

Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney has said any sanctions must have “real edge”, while in the UK, MPs have called on Dominic Raab to summon the Belarusian ambassador.

The European Union's executive has summoned the Belarusian ambassador over the incident at Minsk currently sparking outcry across the West.

“Ambassador [Aleksandr] Mikhnevich was informed of the firm condemnation by the EU institutions and EU member states of the coercive act by which the Belarusian authorities have jeopardised the safety of passengers and crew,” the European Commission said in a statement.

“The outrageous action by Belarusian authorities constitutes another blatant attempt to silence all opposition voices in the country,” it also said, demanding the immediate release of Roman Protasevich.

The Lithuanian government is advising its citizens to refrain from travelling to Belarus and urging those currently in the country to leave immediately, foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has said.

Speaking during a cabinet meeting, Landsbergis said Sunday's action by Belarus reflected a worsening security situation in the region, Reuters reported.

Minsk airport has briefly suspended boarding of a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, after it said it received an anonymous email warning of a possible terrorist threat.

An update posted on the airport’s Telegram channel an hour later said that all the necessary measures for the screening of passengers, baggage and aircraft had been completed, and that flight LH1487 was again boarding and preparing for departure.